[HC777]

I made a reservation for travel from Seattle to Pensacola by way of Atlanta for a 13 year old & a 16 year old. I made the reservations on-line and had to put in their birth dates. No alerts came up on the Delta website; no pop-ups about unaccompanied minors; no indication that I needed to do anything else.
So I wait a week and about 5 days before the flight, I called Delta to confirm the information and ASK if there is anything I special I need to do. I spoke to a Delta rep who informed me that it would cost me $100 EACH WAY for the 13 year old. Great! Now I'm having to pay an extra $200 that I hadn't planned for an attendant to walk the kids to and from a holding area during their layover in Atlanta. The phone rep didn't even apologize for the hidden costs or explain why the website didn't trigger the info when I put in the birth dates.
Now here's the best part: The phone rep then made a point of reading through all the flight information and confirmed flight numbers AND TIMES. I asked if there was anything else I needed to do, and he told me we were good to go.
So on Monday early afternoon I show up at Seatac airport with the kids. While trying to check in, the rep informed me that she could not allow my daughter on the flight I'd booked as the flight out of Atlanta was the last flight of the day, and Delta does not allow unaccompanied minors on last flights of the day! Really?! If they don't allow it, then why doesn't the website prevent me from making the reservation? Why don't the rep that I CALL not tell me?! REALLY?!
The only flight the rep can book the kids on is THE NEXT MORNING AT 6:20 AM! AND we have to be at the airport absolutely NO LATER THAN 5 AM! WE LIVE AN HOUR AND 1/2 AWAY! I would have to get the kids up at 3 AM if we went back home. The timing and the hours of extra travel back and forth was too much! I felt that I had no choice but to book a hotel in Seatac. With the cost of food, hotel and parking, another $250 I had not planned on spending! Thanks Delta!!
And finally! The very nice Delta rep that told me the kids weren't allowed on the flight they were booked on apologized and suggested I write a complaint on the Delta website. Well I tried. The site seemed specifically designed to keep people from complaining. Lots of drop down boxes that seemed to steer away from my topic -- you're website sucks and your phone reps and untrained -- and towards "gosh, I don't know how to book a flight, would you please help me."
Delta was a nightmare from start to finish.

[azstar]

Sadly, you cannot trust any information given to you by any airline employee. You MUST look up the information you need on the website, or in the "contract for carriage".

The following is lifted from Delta's website:

Unaccompanied Minor Program Rules

The Unaccompanied Minor Program is required for all children 5-14 years old when not traveling in the same compartment with an adult at least 18 years old or the child's parent/legal guardian. The program is optional for children age 15 – 17.

[NWAtix]

Sorry honey, you

[NWAtix]

Sorry honey, you ignored the line beneath the passenger name field, where there's a box to check if "The passenger is 14 or under. Please refer to the child travel guidelines and restrictions." The part 'child travel guidelines and restrictions' is a hot link to the rules. Anything after that is a direct result of failure to click a simple box. You messed up. You were careless. Thank goodness DL has the rules to protect your child, obviously you can't be trusted to take the care necessary to help them travel.

I'm an adult and even I avoid the last flight of the day on a connection when possible. So the kids get to ATL and their connecting flight is cancelled or they missed the connection, they're all alone in that huge airport because you were careless. Sounds like parental nightmare to me, while the airline did its due diligence to protect the kids. Airline employees sometimes make mistakes, they are only human, but this mistake was started by a parent who was too hurried to properly make the reservation online. Kudos, Delta!