Parents had a nightmare ordeal when United Airlines lost their 10-year-old daughter while she was traveling alone for the first time.
Annie and Perry Klebahn's daughter, Phoebe, was flying to a two-week summer camp on July 30. However, her parents were left panicking when they got a frantic call from the summer camp saying that Phoebe had not arrived.
The Klebahn's put their daughter on a United flight leaving from San Francisco to Traverse City. The flight included a connection at Chicago. Phoebe was given a special wristband and was told to "only go with someone with a United badge on and that she would be accompanied at all times," according to a letter written to United.
Phoebe's parents tracked the flight online and saw that it had arrived in Chicago. They also tracked the connecting flight as it left and headed to Traverse City. The Klebahn's expected a call from the camp saying that their daughter had arrived safely, but they were shocked when they learned that Phoebe wasn't at the camp even though the connecting flight that she was supposed to be on had arrived.
Annie Klebahn immediately called United but she was put on hold for 20 minutes before she was connected to someone in India who first told her that Phoebe did make it the Traverse City. After being put on hold for another 10 minutes, the customer service agent told Klebahn that her daughter was still in Chicago as she missed the connecting flight. When she asked how she could have missed it when every flight was on time, the agent said "it does not matter" she is still in Chicago and "I am sure she is fine," according to the letter. The agent couldn't even tell Klebahn where her daughter was or who she was with in Chicago.
Klebahn asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for another 40 minutes. Meanwhile, her husband called using his United Premier status phone line and number. He was transferred and put on hold a few times as well, but eventually a United customer service agent told him that the person from the unaccompanied minor service forgot to show up. The parents had no idea that the unaccompanied minor service was run by a third party.
Mr. Klebahn asked the agent if they could help locate their daughter and make sure she was fine, but the agent said she was going off her shift and couldn't help. After a guilt trip, in which Klebahn asked the agent how she would feel if her kid was in the situation, the agent agreed to help. She located Phoebe within 15 minutes.
No one was at the airport to greet Phoebe like she was told she would be. Phoebe told the flight attendants that she had to catch another flight, but they told her to wait. She asked to use a phone to call home several times and she was told to wait. She was told that the airline would call the camp to let them know that she had missed her flight, but that wasn't the case.
As if that wasn't bad enough, when Phoebe finally caught a flight to Traverse City four hours later, her luggage hadn't arrived with her. After several phone calls and five trips by camp officials to the airport, Phoebe did not get her luggage until three days into her camp stay.
United Airlines says they are reviewing the issue and they released an apology to the Klebahn's. They are giving back the miles that Mr. Klebahn used for the flight and they are refunding the $99 fee that was charged for the unaccompanied minor service that never happened.
" We certainly appreciate their business and would like the opportunity to provide them a better travel experience in the future," United told The Huffington Post.
However it isn't likely that Phoebe or her parents will give United another chance. Phoebe "never wants to fly United again," according to the letter.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
