My 15 yo son also had a horrible experience flying AA through Miami. I still cannot believe it and I am also trying to figure out who to go to.
When my son was initially checked in at another airport (California), we requested he fly as unaccompanied minor. The AA employee said "you don't need that, that is for 12 yo." As his connecting flight in Miami was the gate next to his arrival gate, and my son was now very embarressed we let him board alone. Big mistake.
His afternoon flight scheduled to depart Miami for Europe was delayed 10 - 30 minutes at a time. At 11pm. after many many delays, his flight was cancelled. My son gets in the very long line with many angry passengers, eventually AA employees pack up and leave with my 15yo and other passengers standing there.
To make a long story short, the only flight we could get for my son was 24 hours after the initial flight. 4 family members placed approximately 18 calls to AA that night trying to get my son help. No hotel would take him as he was too young. Finally, we get a AA employee at the 1-800 number who was a parent also and began to call different departments at the Miami airport to get someone to listen...no easy task as it turned out" She did eventually find someone (another parent) at AA who agreed to help put him in the minor program if my son came to her. My son was not answering his phone to get this info to him, finally at 6 am I get call from him, he is in a panic, does not know where he is, he lost his bags and he thinks he is sick (I think he was exhausted and fell asleep while trying to walk through the night).
I ask him to give his phone immediately to an AA employee so I could explain what was happening...... no employee would take the phone. I could hear them saying in the background "hey do you need a doctor or something." Finally my son finds a security guard who did take the phone. From here on, service was excellent. He was put in the escort program, slept for 6 hours, was fed and that afternoon was put on another flight.
I honestly believe my son was at serious risk. I am still stunned, minors flying alone don't have the skills to navigate such an inefficient system and end up having fewer rights than adults. I intend to complain about this but still trying to figure out the best way to do so.
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