Mother of minor put on wrong flight wants personal apology
ALANA GOMEZ
HOUSTON, TX – An 8-year-old girl from Bryan, Texas, was the second unaccompanied minor put on the wrong Continental Express plane over the weekend and her mother wants an apology.
On Saturday, Taylor Williams was supposed to fly from Bush Intercontinental to Charlotte, N.C., but ended up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The next day, an unaccompanied 10-year-old girl flying from Boston was sent to Newark, N.J. instead of Cleveland.
Continental Airlines released the following statement.
”…in both situations, two flights were departing simultaneously from a single doorway and miscommunication among staff members resulted in the child being boarded on the wrong aircraft. In both circumstances, the children were supervised throughout the entire process and were rebooked and routed to the proper destinations on the same day. We have apologized to both families and are working with them to resolves these situations.”
But Williams’ mother, Wendy Babineaux said a corporate apology is not good enough. She wants an apology from the employees directly involved in the miscommunication.
Babineaux said she also hired an attorney to put pressure on Continental to make sure this never happens again.
“I want to tell them, ‘Please don’t let this happen to another unaccompanied minor and please don’t allow them to let another parent go through what I went through,’” said Babineaux.
Babineaux said she took her daughter to the boarding gate, but a pass given to her by Continental did nnot let her go onto the ramp. She said she went as far as she could to make sure her daughter was on the right plane.
A couple of hours later, she said she got a call from her daughter’s father saying she did not arrive on time. Babineaux said she is angry that initial call did not come from Continental first.
She is also seeking a full reimbursement for her out of pocket expenses. However, she said her priority is preventing future accidents.
“It’s not about the money,” said Babineaux. “It’s about the fact that you need to put my child first.”
Continental did not go into detail about the compensation offered to either family, but said both are being offered an equal amount.
