United Airlines Does Much Worse Than Just Break Guitars

Business • August 2012 • Views: 1,674

The No Asshole Rule author Bob Sutton took to his blog yesterday to tell an incredible story about a fuck-up of staggering proportions involving United Airlines, breathtaking amounts of buck-passing, and a lost little girl.

In the abridged version of this story, Sutton’s friends Annie and Perry Klebahn sent their 10-year-old daughter Phoebe to camp in Grand Rapids, which required her to fly as an unaccompanied minor aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago.

In Chicago, a person from an unaccompanied minor service employed by United was supposed to greet Phoebe and take her to her next flight. That never happened.

RTWT.

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8 comments

Sheila Broflovski Tue, Aug 14, 2012 3:56:26pm

Not to make light of a horrible display of incompetence and asshole management, Dave Carroll can write a new song "United Loses Kids"

Mostly sane, most of the time. Tue, Aug 14, 2012 4:39:38pm

Wow. I have to admit if I ran an airline I would really hate Unaccompanied Minors to the point that I might refuse to take them. It's like being handed an extremely fragile vase and being told "Here, hold this for the next ten hours." I take the well-being of children very seriously.

That said, if they do take minors, they have a responsibility to the parents and the child, and this was a major fail. I don't think that a refund is going to cut it this time.

Sheila Broflovski Tue, Aug 14, 2012 4:57:25pm

re: #2 Mostly sane, most of the time.

Wow. I have to admit if I ran an airline I would really hate Unaccompanied Minors to the point that I might refuse to take them. It's like being handed an extremely fragile vase and being told "Here, hold this for the next ten hours." I take the well-being of children very seriously.

That said, if they do take minors, they have a responsibility to the parents and the child, and this was a major fail. I don't think that a refund is going to cut it this time.

They are having a real-time issue and they turn it over to a call center in freakin India? WTF.

Our Precious Bodily Fluids Tue, Aug 14, 2012 6:00:08pm

I flew as an unaccompanied minor ~30 years ago, and I can't for the life of me remember what airline it was. Most likely it was Southwest. I was escorted onto the plane by a uniformed airline employee (pleasant enough, as I remember), and checked on several times during the flight by an attendant. When the plane landed, I was met at the end of the exit tube thingy by another uniformed employee who confirmed whatever document I had (I don't know what it was), asked me for the name of the person who was supposed to meet me, what my relationship to them was, and what the password was. When all that was to his satisfaction, everything was cool and I was good to go.

At no time did I ever feel like I was being ignored, dismissed, forgotten about, or that there was any way that I could have experienced what this little girl did. I haven't flown in my adult life since before 9/11, but pretty much everyone I know that flies has a Shitty Airline Story. Is this sort of thing common with European / Asian / Australian airlines? Does the US have the monopoly on Aeronautical Assholeism, or is it an industry-wide phenomenon?

Sheila Broflovski Tue, Aug 14, 2012 6:12:50pm

re: #4 What Would Spalding Gray Do?

I flew as an unaccompanied minor ~30 years ago, and I can't for the life of me remember what airline it was. Most likely it was Southwest. I was escorted onto the plane by a uniformed airline employee (pleasant enough, as I remember), and checked on several times during the flight by an attendant. When the plane landed, I was met at the end of the exit tube thingy by another uniformed employee who confirmed whatever document I had (I don't know what it was), asked me for the name of the person who was supposed to meet me, what my relationship to them was, and what the password was. When all that was to his satisfaction, everything was cool and I was good to go.

At no time did I ever feel like I was being ignored, dismissed, forgotten about, or that there was any way that I could have experienced what this little girl did. I haven't flown in my adult life since before 9/11, but pretty much everyone I know that flies has a Shitty Airline Story. Is this sort of thing common with European / Asian / Australian airlines? Does the US have the monopoly on Aeronautical Assholeism, or is it an industry-wide phenomenon?

I have flown on many airlines, and by far the worst of them is Spirit Airlines, but people know in advance what a shitty carrier they are so you kind of get what you pay for.

As for international travel, I have been to the Middle East with layovers in Europe, and none of my time traveling abroad has sucked as much as airline travel in the U.S. People who have traveled to the far East (Japan, Australia, Hong Kong) all say it is superior to travel anywhere else.

Amory Blaine Tue, Aug 14, 2012 6:18:08pm

I used to fly solo at 10. No chaperone. I also smoked on flights while underage, although not at 10 YO. :p

John Vreeland Wed, Aug 15, 2012 5:53:30am

I flew TWA unaccompanied from Kennedy to Heathrow and back when I was eight. This was 1973. Any help I got was accidental.

wheat-dogg Wed, Aug 15, 2012 7:38:03am

re: #7 John Vreeland

I bet you rode the subway by yourself, too. A lot of NYC kids learn about independent travel that way.

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