QF loses UM (unaccompanied minor)

[Timba-Jet]

I don't think her primary reason in "considering her legal options" is to get a good pay out.
I believe she is angry with the blatant sense of carelessness and wants to take it further on the principal - wouldn't you if it was your kid?

All for her taking up the matter with QF, even talking to the media to get spotlight on QF to fix their procedures.

But what is taking legal action going to achieve. People who react by threatening to sue don't get my respect.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I have never seen this happen when working at the airport. Have had a couple of scares with multiple UM's on the same flight when they decide it is a good time to start to play hide and seek once they are off the plane :shock: :shock:

The more annoying bit was all the times I had to wait with UM's whilst there parents/guardians/family... didn't show up to pick them up from the airport. When calling them they would usually go oh I'll send someone I am still at work...

I remember one woman was sending her kids BNE/MEL/DPO when all the flights to/from MEL were affected by ash clouds from the volcano in Chile & when told that the BNE/MEL flight might not be going said "well it better be because I'm on a flight to BKK at midnight". She didn't have an issue if her kids got stranded in MEL as that wouldn't have been her problem.

She lived 4 hours away from the airport so couldn't exactly ask friends or neighbours to drop them off the next day. The flight her kids were on & all others that arvo were cancelled, as they were the next day so I guess that would have really stuffed up her Thailand holiday.

But while the CC no doubt did their job properly, isn't the carer supposed to be at the gate when the child arrives? What happens if they aren't there, do airlines have staff available to play games with the kids while everyone waits?

Yes they are but frequently they are not in which case flight attendants will hand the child over to ground staff (who sign the UM documentation to say they have accepted them) & then take them to the UM lounge or other room depending on what airport it is.

I don't think her primary reason in "considering her legal options" is to get a good pay out.
I believe she is angry with the blatant sense of carelessness and wants to take it further on the principal - wouldn't you if it was your kid?

I don't care what airline UMs must be watched at all times!

Reading the comments attached to the article in the link there were more stories from people about Virgin losing track of UM's.

Not making any excuses for the airline involved, but reading into the story you can see the potential for something like this to occur.

Being close to 11/12 at night on such a night, how many staff were on overtime or had been at work for extended periods to help clear the back log? You would imagine the fatigue levels would be higher, so the potential for the mistake would be higher than normal.

My other question, why come out now? Not trying to be cynical but is it to "educate" other parents on making sure the paperwork is in order at check in, or is it for other reasons?

Perhaps it is a good wake up call for those involved with the UM procedures.

I don't believe it was the ground staff at fault as the UM should have been with one of the flight attendants coming off the plane who then hands the child over to the parent/guardian. Flight attendants only hand the child over to ground staff if the person meant to be picking up the child is not there to meet them which happens reguarly.

 

[Noob]

Reading the comments attached to the article in the link there were more stories from people about Virgin losing track of UM's.

Sorry but how did this turn into a Virgin Vs. Qantas debate? I said I don't care what airline, if you pay for a service it should be delivered - children are not to be treated as baggage.

 

[simongr]

I noticed the VA staff being very careful with the four UMs on today's flight...

 

[lazybones1987]

Reading the comments attached to the article in the link there were more stories from people about Virgin losing track of UM's.

If you do a ctrl+f on the comments in the page and search for 'virgin', there would be exactly 6 matches. Out of those 6 matches, 1 has been negative and the remaining 5 comments have something good to say about Virgin.

 

[nlagalle]

Sorry, but when I pay for a service I expect that service.

How much extra do they charge for UM's??

 

[Meggsy]

How much extra do they charge for UM's??

There was no additional charge the one time I used the service to send my kids interstate to see their grandparents. That was, admittedly, 2 years ago with QF and things may have changed in this time.

 

[JohnK]

More than $1000 :shock:

I have no respect for people like this!

Greedy? Opportunistic?

Seriously why is it that when something bad happens and then clearly all is OK that the first thought for some people is how much can I get from this incident.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Sorry but how did this turn into a Virgin Vs. Qantas debate? I said I don't care what airline, if you pay for a service it should be delivered - children are not to be treated as baggage.

I just thought it was ironic the article being about one airline and yet there were negative comments about another. It was certainly not my intent to turn it into any kind of debate between airlines.

If you do a ctrl+f on the comments in the page and search for 'virgin', there would be exactly 6 matches. Out of those 6 matches, 1 has been negative and the remaining 5 comments have something good to say about Virgin.

There was more than one article on this topic & the one I read had at least 132 comments.