Help! United left my 13-year-old daughter in Syracuse

Despite getting the call about a delay, there are the departure boards to always check and check more than once. Did he notice the flight time and say anything to a red coat? UA is usually very good about assisting you.

They page people to see if they are in the gate area and get them to board, if they aren’t, they give the seats away. Obviously they were not at the gate when they were paged.

As I posted, the line there is often 50+ people deep an hour before check in even opens around the holidays. Showing up 1h and 45 minutes ealy on the busiest day of the year is cuttign it too close. United.com states that the TSA line alone at SYR will take 1h 30m during peak travel times on non-holidays. The supposed delay is simply a red herring.

By the time you’re in the security line there aren’t usually any flight schedule displays to look at. While the airline might have been correct (technically) it did have some responsibility to get the young lady to her mother’s for Thanksgiving.

Novembember 21st 2012? FlightAware Says that flight left SYR at 6:23am Radar for that day does not show any weather that would cause a delay. That early in the day its un-likely to be ATC holds. A full flight could slow boarding, Maybe the crew was ‘late’ (they had to delay flight for outbound crew to have it ‘rest’ period). I doubt UAL would send out a txt delay alert if the flight was going to be delayed 10-15 mins.

“Also, I’ve traveled a fair bit myself and if I am sure that the flight
was delayed, I would also delay my arrival time at the airport”
please don’t ever do that. delays can change in an instant. arrive at the airport for your SCHEDULED time. PLEASE.

ok, let me give you some insight from a gate agent’s perspective. this is the busiest travel day of the year; lines are to be expected. it’s all over the news and internet, so feigning ignorance isn’t an option.
if United has a 15 minute rule for being in the boarding gate, then they did not make it. by their own calculations (which is a secondhand account, as the mother is relaying what the father claimed…who knows how much he could be exaggerating. i know my dad always did with time), they made it to the gate at 5:51. that is less than 15 minutes, and they are not due any compensation.

some people are questioning their names being paged, but seats still given away. from my experience, i can tell you that the agent had likely been paging the child’s name for at least 10 minutes. they probably heard the “FINAL CALL FOR PASSENGER GABRIELLE CICHOSZ”… the *final* call. when i make that announcement, i look for anyone running down the terminal or waving their arms to say “that’s me! that’s me!”. if i don’t see that, then sorry, their boarding pass is canceled, and i give the seat to the standby who has been perched next to my desk waiting for that final 15 minute cutoff.

as far as the delay notification, ALL airlines’ messages that i’ve ever seen clearly state that the departure time can change at any point, and to still be at your gate for your scheduled time. if it’s an Air Traffic Control delay, the tower can flip a decision like a switch. for instance, i had friends traveling from Phoenix to Newark on Saturday. they were on a 4 hour ground hold due to ATC. within 30 minutes of that notification, the ATC tower lifted the delay program and their airline was told to board and take off immediately. my friends had gone to get something to eat, and nearly missed it. luckily, the wife thought she heard a terminal page, and so they went to the gate to check, and were the last to board! point is, delays aren’t set in stone. always always always get to the airport at the regular time. another poster mentioned it may have been a crew rest issue, and they were able to get another crew in. perhaps there was a mechanical issue they thought would take longer to fix. perhaps they swapped the aircraft with another to get the flight back on time. these things happen EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. it’s not unusual to have a delay change at a moment’s notice.

if the dad checked in at the counter, then he knew the flight was back on time. the counter agent can notify the gate, but if they aren’t present to board by 5:50am, then they lose out. it doesn’t matter to the gate agent that they knew the UM was in the airport. (if the dad knew time was tight, wouldn’t he have been rushing the entire time? sounds like they only realized it was an issue when they heard the page.)

the fact is, just because someone is “in the airport” doesn’t mean they’re not dilly-dallying somewhere else. i’ve had people miss flights, or show up 1 minute before departure, and
claim they’ve been there for hours. then i notice the McDonald’s bag in
their hands. so they decided to stop instead of going to their plane. i’ve had people who fell asleep in the terminal, people who were too engrossed in their book to hear their flight called, people with their ipods on too loud who miss their names being paged, people who’ve decided drinking that last beer is more important than the plane leaving, people who’ve been stuck on conference calls, and people who just have no concept of departure time. so just because i know someone is physically at the airport doesn’t mean i am going to waive the time requirements for them. they still must be AT THE GATE 15 minutes prior.

as far as those security lines go, i know my airport doesn’t allow airline agents to move someone to the front of the TSA line unless it’s an extreme circumstance — and even then, it’s usually a supervisor who has to do it. 5 airlines are in our concourse, and there’s no way TSA will let us pull “late runners” out, regardless of whether or not they’ll miss their flight.

this is all i can think of at this moment. i don’t work for United, but most airline policies about arriving by a specific time are pretty similar. i can answer (or at least try) any questions anyone has.

in any case, this is a NO vote. do not mediate. they weren’t there at the required time.

Apples and oranges maybe, but I just went to United’s website and priced a ticket for a minor, 13 to 17, to fly SYR to CLE on 11/21/2013. The most expensive fare is $365; the cheapest, $121. Granted, maybe the OP purchased his daughter’s ticket at the last minute this year, but I still find it hard to believe that even a walk-up fare for 2012 was 438% to 1322% higher. If it was, then as RetiredNavyphotog said, she probably should have taken a cab.

Hi, Em. Coincidentally, I got the prices I posted by clicking on the United.com link in your reply to Elizabeth Smith. I just clicked on it again, and the lower prices I mentioned are still there…

One Way (Start New Search)
Depart Syracuse, NY (SYR)
Arrive Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Date Thu., Nov. 21, 2013 Time Anytime
Cabin Economy Travelers 1

Buy Now — limited tickets at our lowest price
Nonstop from $365
With Stops from $121
Flexible Fare from $573
First Cabin from $865

There was no scam. Geez………

The first thing I do when I get to the airport is to look at the arrivals and departures electronic board.to check my flight. That is why I am at the airport. Seems logical to me.

Father says he arrived airport at 4:20 a.m. and did not clear security until 5:50 a.m. Everything in between is a blank, unknown. All we are doing is assuming things.

If he got there and went to the line at the counter, the airport has a current departures board in that area. When I fly AA out of Syracuse, there is an electronic board.

The passenger did not clear security in time to get to the gate in time. On one the busiest days of the year, I am sure the gate agent was trying to observe the 10 or 15-minute rule of “closing” the flight or whatever the exact term is. To change passengers at that point definitely means a late departure, what with baggage and updating the manifest.

There is no policy about seating the child in the first row or close to it. Actually, the policy is to sit the child as close to the rear as possible on the majority of flights. Now that flights are so full, it is usually just wherever there happens to be an available seat.

I don’t know what airlines you are having your daughter fly, but it is a requirement for an agent to check an individual’s ID and match it to the recorded pick-up person. United’s policy also requires the agent obtain a signature from the person picking up the minor. The child is always escorted by an agent or flight attendant, though I have seen occasions where a child runs off the plane (which is why they are not seated in the front).

Totally agree. I wish there was some explanation about that. If everybody got notification the flight was going to be delayed, they’d have had a TON more passengers irate. Odd the letter doesn’t mention a host of people screaming at the gate, because that would certainly have been the outcome. Somehow, I think there’s something missing from the story.

That’s how I thought it worked, too. But I’m struggling with the part of the letter where it says they both heard the announcement and arrived at the gate within a minute of each other. Were they in separate lines or something? Was dad huffing and puffing and sent the daughter on ahead? It reads like they were coming from different places and weren’t even together when the announcement was made.

At least “paid with cash, refund in cash” is a pretty valid argument. But the story could be about puppies being cute and Adam would post “it’s another scam!”

But cute puppies are a scam. *grin*

no, they both arrived at the gate within 1 minute of hearing the announcement of their names. they were together.

I was just going to suggest that. I know the one time we took a very early flight (I think 0600) with USAirways out of AGS, we arrived an hour and a half early only to find no one at the check in counter until 45 minutes prior to departure. Security wasn’t even open yet. Granted it is a small airport, but the point is, with the cutbacks the airlines have made, agents aren’t always available when you expect them to be no matter how early your are. Our flight the first of the day, ended up not departing until well after 1300hrs. Another time in the middle of checking us in for an international flight, the agent had to leave immediately to finish boarding passengers in the terminal. We waited at the counter for over 20 minutes, he wouldn’t even finish checking us in, just said he had to go and will be back soon.

Flutiefan, there is no call for personal attacks in here. That bull-headed comment was completely uncalled for.

Yes, Ed might be out of luck if he follows the airlines new schedule and they change it again. But a lot of people don’t realize that the airline can move the flight time up by I think 24 hours. So even if your arrive at the time listed when you bought the ticket, you could still miss your flight because it was moved earlier. It’s another one of those things the airlines can do to screw over the passenger without any accountability.

this is so insightful. Even though I lived in the NYC for 5 years, I’ve never flown in the US as a kid, and things are really different on this side of the world. I live in Japan, and here they literally pull everyone out of the line who’s running late and parents aren’t allowed to take UMs to the gate. hence my comments below.

Didn’t know this. As stated above, even though I lived in the NYC for 5 years, I’ve never flown in the US as a kid, and things are really different on this side of the world. I live in Japan, and here they literally pull everyone out of the line who’s running late and parents aren’t allowed to take UMs to the gate. hence my comments.

I’ve flown a lot when I was a kid and my parents were only allowed up until the outside perimeter of the security check, but I was always accompanied by an airline representative from the time I checked in.

Tushar, you are correct for an international departure – no one without a seat assignment can go to the gate. That is why international flights have the 1 hour cutoff time vs the 10-15 minute time.

um honey, i wasn’t being rude or attacking anyone. if someone insists they are going to show up at the delayed time, even when as a 13 year employee i’ve begged them to please come at the regular time, then they are just being stubborn. in other words, bull-headed. that’s not a personal attack. anyone on these boards can tell you i don’t “attack” people. you need to lighten up and read the comment the way it was intended. Merry Christmas.

Why bother to tell me I’ve been re-scheduled for two hours later if not so I can show up to the airport two hours later?

Where I was raised, calling a stranger’s attitude bull-headed sure was no complement and based on Ed’s response to it, it seems you two don’t know each other and felt it was insulting too.

then why no one else with this problem? not getting the whole story here.