VZLA787 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 95 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2645 times:
Fellow a.netters.
I hope somebody here can help me.
My son was traveling on AA935 MIA-CCS today, and got diverted to CUR due to bad weather in CCS. Apparently, they're spending the night in CUR. I'm currently on the phone with AA trying to get some info, but it's taking too long.
If anybody here knows what the procedure is when this happens, and how I can get in touch with somebody in CUR, I would greatly appreciate it.
LVTMB From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 380 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2569 times:
Things that come to mind:
How old is your son?
Have you tried the Curacao local AA office?
Could AA provide you with the cell number for the purser of the captain? (this one is somewhat far fetched, I know)
runner13 From United States of America, joined Jun 2010, 227 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2395 times:
I can't speak on AA's procedures, but when I worked for OO. Our procedure was to call whoever dropped them off, and whoever is picking them and let them know what was going on what what we were going to do. If it was just a fuel and go, one of the station workers would stay with the minor at all times. If it was an overnight situation, the airline would pay for a hotel and an employee at that station would stay with the UM for the night. Obviously if it was a girl a woman would stay with them, and vice versa with a boy. Hope this helps somewhat? Sorry about your situation.
TheCommodore From Australia, joined Dec 2007, 2346 posts, RR: 7 Reply 3, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2343 times:
This is always a risk one takes with UM's
I would assume that an airline employee will stay with the child at the hotel until the flight resumes. It also depends on how old the child is to I think.
Flown 905,468 kms or 2.356 times to the moon, 1296 hrs, Longest flight 10,524 kms
canoecarrier From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2657 posts, RR: 12 Reply 4, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2267 times:
Quoting runner13 (Reply 2): If it was an overnight situation, the airline would pay for a hotel and an employee at that station would stay with the UM for the night.
Talk about an airline and/or employee taking on quite a bit of potential liability in this situation. I'm reminded of several cases here in the states where UMs get stuck overnight at airports because of weather and are chaperoned while on airport property.
I would follow the suggestions some have given above me. A good start would be calling reservations and explaining the problem and asking for a supervisor that could contact the station directly. I would think they'd go out of their way to work out what is going on with your child.
VZLA787 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 95 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2214 times:
Well, apparently there was a second MIA-CCS diversion. My son's flight is spending the night in CUR, but apparently the second flight is taking off to CCS, and apparently (hopefully), the procedure says he has to go on that flight.
OOSLC From United States of America, joined Nov 2008, 170 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2185 times:
Quoting TheCommodore (Reply 3):
I would assume that an airline employee will stay with the child at the hotel until the flight resumes. It also depends on how old the child is to I think.
Yep here at OO if a flight cxls or diverts 2 airline employees of the same gender stay at a hotel with the UM. I would think AA would have the same policy and employees there would have to stay with the UM if they stay overnight.
Quoting VZLA787 (Reply 5): Well, apparently there was a second MIA-CCS diversion. My son's flight is spending the night in CUR, but apparently the second flight is taking off to CCS, and apparently (hopefully), the procedure says he has to go on that flight.
Thanks all for your help and input.
Well if there's empty seats on that second flight. If I was the supervisor there in CUR I would throw the UM on the first empty seat. They are the highest priority in my books!
mhkansan From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 378 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2082 times:
I'm still young (18), but when I was younger I traveled off and on as a UM. Mainly just on one-stops from DEN-MHK. However, a few summers ago my UA DCA-ORD flight was cancelled and I was all alone in Washington DC (headed to DEN). Because of my interest in aviation, I knew I could just call UA and have them put me on US (and get me there an hour earlier) because of the *Alliance code share, and I had a blast. I called my dad from PHL and he couldn't believe me. Then, the flight to DEN (last of the day) was overbooked and I called my sister in DEN to see if it was okay to for me to volunteer. She and my father had no problem with it, and I got to stay over a night in PHL courtesy of US Airways, in a nice Hilton (I was really nice to the gate agents) and I was able to catch my first and only A321 to DEN in the morning. I had a great time and a great story to tell to my family about how I got a free hotel room, meals, plus $1000 in flight vouchers from UA and US combined.
Now I know with international travel it is a lot different and your confidence in your son and in AA can vary based on a UMs age. This is probably a very difficult time for you, not knowing what is happening to your son or where he is going to be. Depending on his age, he is very likely fine and if he has any interest in airlines and travel is probably having a great adventure, under the safety of AA and the hopeful security of the Curacan airport system. One recommendation is to make sure that UMs carry a cell phone (GSM or Global CDMA, especially if traveling internationally), and have a little extra cash with them for airport purchases if something goes wrong.
I hope your son arrives to you safe and with a fun story to tell. Best wishes!
VZLA787 From United States of America, joined Jul 2009, 95 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 1916 times:
Everything turned out fine. AA put him on the flight that did take off and landed safely in CCS at 11PM, instead of 3PM. Fortunately, he didn;t have to spend the night at a strange place with strangers (although I believe they would have taken good care of him, but still).
What a long day, though.
Thanks to all who posted and gave me your input, it really helped.
Thanks to all the AA employees in CCS/DFW/MIA who helped through all this.
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