Where is my child?

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https://www.theage.com.au/national/...bourne-airport-storeroom-20190320-p515ni.html

Severe storms on the east coast of Australia has resulted in a Virgin Australia flight from SYD - BNE being diverted to Melbourne which resulted in 3 unaccompanied minors being stranded without a guardian overnight. I'd be interested in others views on this.

The first problem as I see it is that the plane unbelievably ended up in the exact opposite direction to BNE. Surely if weather looked to be an issue the flight should have remained in Sydney.

Naturally the media have jumped all over Virgin for the kid in question ending up locked in a storage room overnight. There are likely polar opposite views on AFF about what VA ought to have done in this case and the parent appears to lay the blame at the airline. I tend to take the opposite view. in my view the parent / guardian is wholly responsible for their child at all times with the exception of say when they are at school or staying at a friends house.

Most of us at AFF are at least somewhat frequent flyers and understand that delays and cancellations are an unfortunate part of flying. VA are in the business of flying people from point A to B. The fact that they take unaccompanied minors at all is doing a massive favour for parents. In this case it looks like their hands were tied to dome degree with most hotels being full due to the Grand Prix but even if there was a room available were they supposed to leave the kid there unsupervised?

Unaccompanied minors present a difficult and possibly time consuming/expensive challenge for airlines, especially when parents are happy to run to the media when it all goes wrong.
 
The airlines allow unaccompanied minors so they are responsible from handover to handback.
 
The airlines allow unaccompanied minors so they are responsible from handover to handback.

Exactly. A company, individual, whoever, who agrees to take charge and responsibility for a child takes responsibility for them while in their care. Full stop. 'Doing a favour' or not.

Its not as if diversions are an unheard of event, in general. What were Virgin's SOPs for when this occurred? I'd be amazed if they didn't have any; so maybe there were a couple of staff who simply stuffed up - but their training is ultimately a management responsibility.
 
I heard elsewhere that the child blurted out during a tv interview this morning that the airline told him to call his mum several times
 
Clearly there Virgin could have done a few things differently such as possibly making contact with the mother. But other than that, under the prevailing circumstances where should they have accommodated the kid? Should they have had a member of staff sit with them all night?

On another subject, who to the pic of the kid sitting amongst the boxes? If the kid had a phone why did mum not call it?
 
Exactly. A company, individual, whoever, who agrees to take charge and responsibility for a child takes responsibility for them while in their care. Full stop. 'Doing a favour' or not.

Its not as if diversions are an unheard of event, in general. What were Virgin's SOPs for when this occurred? I'd be amazed if they didn't have any; so maybe there were a couple of staff who simply stuffed up - but their training is ultimately a management responsibility.


Are the airlines agreeing to take charge and responsibility for a child? I'm not sure that they are. If you put a young child on a bus or a train unaccompanied is the operator agreeing to take responsibility ? They are certainly agreeing to transport them from point A to B
 
Are the airlines agreeing to take charge and responsibility for a child? I'm not sure that they are. If you put a young child on a bus or a train unaccompanied is the operator agreeing to take responsibility ? They are certainly agreeing to transport them from point A to B

I recall minors being accompanied onboard and boarded separately with a host. Does this not happen now?
 
Are the airlines agreeing to take charge and responsibility for a child? I'm not sure that they are. If you put a young child on a bus or a train unaccompanied is the operator agreeing to take responsibility ? They are certainly agreeing to transport them from point A to B

Now I don't know the particulars of this particular situation, but here is Virgin's conditions etc for Children travelling alone: Have a read.

Amongst other things, an Unaccompanied Minor form needs to be signed and a fee paid. So it sounds pretty much like the airline is taking responsibility and taking the cash to do so. The minor is formally handed over, and formally accepted back by an authorised person. A bit different from a bus! But in any event a bus driver or train staffer would have a 'duty of care' for everyone on their transport.

You don't just drop the kid off at the terminal curb and hope they make their way to the other end. :)

If this story is to be believed the child had a heart operation last month. If this is the case, was that communicated to VA ?

You seem to be developing an angle that blames the parents, yet want to literally absolve Virgin of any responsibility. How does that work?
 
This comment I saw on Facebook seems a pretty good summary of events to me:

“ How this actually reads :
- airline takes care of unaccompanied minors for flight
- flight unable to land in their intended destination
- Accommodation in city diverted to is full due to international event
- airline ensures children have a fun and secure environment to stay in until morning flight to original destination
- grandparents were nominated on paperwork as guardian of the child and were informed of the changes
- grandparents don't see message to pass onto child's mum
- mum gets needlessly enraged and goes to the media “

I wouldn’t think the airline would be allowed to communicate with anyone other than the nominated guardian, nor should they.

Seems to me like the kids are having a pretty good time making sweet box forts.
 
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My first thought was that VA were OK in that they had contacted the grandparents but on reflection I think they should have made repeated and strenuous efforts to speak to the nominated guardians and if not able to do so, contact the parents
 
Interesting thread. And some polarizing debate is sure to come of this.

All comments have their merit depending on how you base your initial reaction to the core story. Mine was more curiosity. The headlines didn't exactly read "Child dies in storeroom after airline fails to look after him......"

I've said it before - never let the truth get in the way of a good story. If this was during a hurricane in Florida, that headline would have read "Boy safe and well after airline finds him shelter in a storeroom."
 
But still he is a minor. Virgin should have called them.

I don't disagree. Clearly VA could have done some things better in this situation. All I'm saying is that there's more to this story then what they mum is presenting.
 
I don't disagree. Clearly VA could have done some things better in this situation. All I'm saying is that there's more to this story then what they mum is presenting.
Wot? You mean the media isn’t presenting the full story? :eek::p Well, where is the fun in facts?
 
Whilst not trying to minimise the concerns of his mother there is a lot of sensationalism in this “news” reporting. Sure communication could have been a lot better but;

It’s described as a storeroom when it was in fact a disused meeting room in the virgin lounge.

The boxes were used to create a cubby house

There were three boys of similar age sharing the experience and no one has claimed they were left alone at any time.

The child with the heart condition was shown in the news report doing somersaults on his trampoline.
 
All I'm saying is that there's more to this story then what they mum is presenting.
Considering nothing has been said by the parents of the other two children, I think there’s a lot less to this story than what the mum is presenting.
 
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