It has been a rough few days for unaccompanied little girls flying Continental, and downright scary for their anxious parents. On Saturday, an 8-year-old flying from Houston to meet her dad in Charlotte was apparently led to the wrong aircraft by airline personnel–a plane that was in fact about to leave for scenic Fayetteville, Ark. Two days later, a 10-year-old Boston girl on her way to grandma and grandpa’s in Cleveland was instead delivered to Newark! Both flights were operated by ExpressJet.
In the latter case, Continental reportedly could not figure out where the girl was for nearly an hour, according to a blog entry by the girl’s father. Later it was reported that the airline offered to refund the fare and fly her back to Boston in first class free of charge. The parents of the girl involved in the Arkansas mishap have hired an attorney. Continental, meanwhile, says that both cases were the result of two flights being loaded through the same gate combined with “miscommunication among staff members resulted in the child being boarded on the wrong aircraft.”