The hits just keep coming for United. Is lack of basic critical thinking skills a mandatory prerequisite for being hired there?
And to add insult to injury, United’s response was a perfunctory apology and a $100 voucher which this family understandably has no use for after this incident.
Wow! Compounding insult to injury with the paltry $100 voucher after all the father and D had been thru due to United!
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I’ll recuse myself from betting on the over/under on how long this thread will last before being closed, but the first personal attack will result in that outcome.
This seems like a variant of the phenomenon where black people are more commonly stopped by police. Even if the police are not practicing racial profiling, racist people who call the police about a “suspicious person” may create the same effect.
Another incident linked below. I’m sure there’s two sides to every story, but the optics are really not good for United right now.
United Airlines boots bride and groom traveling to their wedding from half-empty plane
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/nation-now/2017/04/17/united-air-removes-bride-and-groom-traveling-wedding-plane/100556780/
In fairness to the airline, they were probably following approved procedures-airlines were recently asked by the FBI to assist in identifying child trafficking incidents, and have done so successfully in the very recent past. Once the allegation is made, the flight attendants have no choice but to notify law enforcement- it is not their job to assess the accuracy or credibility of the accusation, that is for law enforcement to do. Can you imagine the uproar if, heaven forbid, it was an actual child trafficking case, and the flight attendants had not notified security despite the “warning”. It seems like any criticism should be directed at the security personnel involved rather than the airline. The flight attendants main duty is to offer some safety presentations and passenger refreshment, not to investigate potential criminal claims.
SMH.
There is no excuse for this.
agreed that there is no excuse for the accusation. But like all allegations, it would be investigated. Just as if the accuser had said the man had sexually assaulted her on the plane, or had stolen her wallet, or anything else. Flight attendant notifies security and goes back to his/her regular duties.
If United weren’t already in the hot seat from Dr Dao, these would be non-stories. Things happen when millions of passengers are moved every day. The the child case, it sounds like procedures were followed. With the newlyweds, no idea what really happened.
The fear of child trafficking creates paranoia. Innocent people have been killed in Guatemala, and look what happened to that pizza place in DC just because people misinterpreted talk about Italian cooking into “code” for child trafficking.
United, and all airlines, should have a policy and refer to that before law enforcement and CPS are called in. Matching the passports, seeing the letter from the mother, and the fact that they were returning home make this a pretty clear case.
Newlyweds decided to move up to more spacious seats and were repeatedly asked to move back which they did not. Good riddance to them. I fly United and cannot stand when passengers try that BS.
It is NOT the same as reporting a crime or assault that happened on the plane. The woman was making stuff up, and had no evidence to back it up, as she was not “reporting” something that happened to her. 'I think this could have happened with no corroborating evidence" is miles away from “this thing just happened to me” or 'I witnessed this thing happening." There was nothing the other passenger could go on than was any different from what the flight attendants could see with their own eyes. We can’t have a civilized society which harasses people cuz other people make stuff up.
flight attendants have unions which help ensure they don’t take on unrelated duties. The only document they have to verify is the airline ticket, or in the case of unaccompanied minor travel, the driver’s license of the adult doing pick up. Everything else is left to other experts, who should know the latest regulations on whether a letter from the other parent is required, if the letter has to be notarized, if the notary has to be from the state of residence of the child, etc., etc. I believe Mexico and Canada actually have special requirements regarding minor travel with only one parent due to the prevalence of parental kidnapping in travel to both those jurisdictions. I would have thought security could clear this up pretty quickly, but I can’t fault them for being called.
Actually, the criticism goes most to the one who made up a false accusation that triggered the whole incident. But the passenger who instigated the whole mess seems to have escaped anonymously without any blame sticking to her.
" I would have thought security could clear this up pretty quickly, but I can’t fault them for being called."
So a random person can report to an airline, with no other info other than a child doesnt look like the parent, and the airline should report it to the authorities?!?!?!? That is just all sorts of wrong.
My child is Asian and neither I nor my husband are. I wouid have been beyond mad if anything like that ever happened to me or my H when flying. And we each few alone with him on many occasions.
quite true, @ucbalumnus. that person was very much wrong. but alas, appears to be unaccountable for her actions, at least at this point. and I’m afraid, @garland, that very many law enforcement investigations are started based on one person’s complaint, as in this case.For flight crews, it is not their job to determine if something is made up, or the accuser is crazy, or the accusation has merit. They aren’t trained to do so, they don’t want to do so, and they don’t have to do so under their contract. #nottheirjob.
@emilybee, I think it would be handled like any other allegation, and hopefully resolved very quickly by security. Just as if some crazy person sitting next to you told the flight attendant you wanted to blow up the plane. Might be crazy, but I’m sure security would be called. People can make up all sorts of crazy things. Hopefully they are resolved quickly.
It’s still just wrong, imo, and that is why a parent travels with the notarized letter authorizing the parent to take their child out of the country.
The “child trafficking” allegation situation is difficult on multiple levels. Leaving aside the alleged inebriation of the person alerting the flight attendant of the situation, we’re all taught that “if you see something, say something”, and while suspicions of kidnapping must be taken seriously, the racial profiling aspect of it is very bothersome. As a father of bi-racial children I can see all sides and don’t pretend to have any answers.
As for the couple on their way to their Costa Rican wedding, the facts aren’t all in yet, but their story doesn’t seem to be holding up to scrutiny. I suspect that, inspired by United’s recent bad press, they were simply hoping to parlay a trivial or nonexistent “problem” into an opportunity.
We also don’t know exactly what the accuser told the flight attendant. She could have made up anything, including that the child said she was being kidnapped. Neither the mother nor Father know exactly what she said. Fortunately these crazy events are rare.