It’s every parents’ worst nightmare. Your kids are traveling on a flight alone and end up lost in transit. Well, that’s exactly what happened to one woman when her two sons were on an American Airline flight from Missouri to Syracuse, New York last year and disappeared during their layover. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00It's every parent's worst nightmare. Your kids are traveling on a flight alone and end up lost
00:05in transit. USA Today reports that's exactly what happened to one woman, Amber Vensel,
00:10when her two sons, one 14 and one 12, were on an American Airlines flight from Missouri to
00:15Syracuse, New York last year. She even purchased the company's unaccompanied minor chaperone
00:20service, which they require for kids under 14, for $150. It's supposed to make arrangements
00:25for accommodation and supervision in the event a flight is canceled at a connecting airport,
00:30which is exactly what happened to Vensel's kids. However, instead of a babysitter and a hotel room,
00:35her kids ended up missing all night. Vensel says she initially received a call saying they would
00:39be on the first flight the next day, but then received an email with conflicting information.
00:44When she tried to get in touch with American Airlines, she was unable, leading her to worry
00:48about what exactly was going on. According to American Airlines' own description of the
00:52unaccompanied minor chaperone service, it includes early boarding, a kids-only lounge,
00:56and an airport escort. But somewhere, the system clearly broke down, and eventually,
01:00Vensel was able to locate her kids via a third party in a, quote, lost children's room, where
01:05they spent the night with no food or water. Vensel is now suing American Airlines for their reckless
01:11and negligent operations, with an attorney from the law firm representing her saying, quote,
01:15there's no margin for error with children. You can replace luggage or golf clubs,
01:19but you can't replace the kids.