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July 28, 2001
By K.W. Harp America West Airlines has faltered again, and this time a Montezuma County boy was left in Phoenix for almost seven hours before airline employees got him on a flight home. This is the third incident involving a child in less than two weeks for the America West Unaccompanied Minor Program, and each was unacceptable, an airline spokeswoman said. Braeden Bennett, 11, was coming home to Cortez from Los Angeles on Thursday, but airline employees forgot to put Bennett on a connecting flight in Phoenix. A mechanical problem delayed the Phoenix-to-Durango flight, which was supposed to depart an hour after his noon arrival in Phoenix. "I was put in a little room, and I asked a few times when I was leaving," Bennett said. "They said there was a maintenance delay. Then I asked again, and they said it’s still a delay. I just didn’t ask anymore, and then my mom called and said the plane left without me." It wasn’t until about 6:45 p.m. that Bennett was finally on his way home. During his seven hours at the airport, Bennett watched television and read books, he said. Then an airline employee took him to Burger King to get dinner. "I had to buy my own dinner," Bennett said, adding that he was mad about having to spend part of the $20 his mom had given him. Most major airlines run unaccompanied-minor programs, which are designed to provide constant supervision for children traveling alone. Jodi Bryant, Bennett’s mom, said she paid $120 for the service in addition to the normal cost of the ticket. "I put my trust in America West once he gets on that plane," Bryant said. "I don’t know where he is or who he’s with. That’s why I pay them extra." Patty Nowack, a spokeswoman for the airline, said Bennett’s incident was a miscommunication between the person watching him and the employees at the gate. Bennett was put on the next available flight to Durango, she said. "It was a very unfortunate mishap," Nowack said. "But the child’s safety was never an issue. He was always under the supervision of America West." The Bennett incident is the latest in a string of problems for America West. On Tuesday, a 10-year-old boy was traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to San Diego, Nowack said. That flight was canceled, and nobody with the airline contacted the child’s parents. "There were two agents ... and each one thought the other took care of it," Nowack said. Ten days before that, an 11-year-old girl was put on the wrong flight. The girl, flying from Los Angeles to Detroit, boarded the airplane on time. The problem, though, is she ended up in Orlando, Fla. Nowack blamed this incident on a rush to get the child on her connecting flight. The Detroit and Orlando flights were leaving from adjacent gates within 10 minutes of each other, Nowack said. Bryant said the airline would possibly reimburse the $120 and may send Bennett a hat or T-shirt.
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
