The family of a 12-year-old boy is furious with American Airlines after it sent the unaccompanied child to the wrong location 1,100 miles from home, The Insider reports.
On June 8, Dean-Dean left Dallas, Texas, to visit his mother, to return to his father in Columbus, Georgia. However, the airline got it wrong and instead flew the young man to Columbus, Ohio.
When he bought a return ticket over the phone, the child’s father says his son repeatedly told him to go to Columbus, Georgia and not Ohio.
“The frustrating thing is that I looked up the flights on the Internet, but the company did not allow parents to buy tickets, otherwise I would have done it online,” said the father. From the guy to “The Insider” media.
According to the father, an American Airlines employee assured him that he had reserved a seat on the correct flight. The ticket cost US$250, plus $150 as the child was traveling alone.
“They charge you, but they don’t take care of your children,” lamented the father.
While waiting for his son at the airport, the man began to worry as the child did not arrive. The father then called the airline and after some research they located him at the airport in Columbus, Ohio.
“For a while, we didn’t know where he was. It was a real nightmare!” said father.
The child had to be flown from Ohio to Dallas, Texas. He then had to wait five hours to board another flight that eventually took him to Columbus, Georgia. It took him 12 hours longer than expected to return home.
American Airlines sent an apology email to the family, but the boy’s father said he would no longer do business with the company. “They are incompetent,” he said.
