A Florida mom has accused American Airlines of misplacing her two kids, who were traveling alone, after their flight to upstate New York got canceled. Amber Vencill filed a civil lawsuit against the airline, alleging that her 10-year-old and 12-year-old sons were left in a jail-like room overnight without food, water, blankets, or pillows on July 30, 2022.
The kids were supposed to fly from Missouri to upstate New York, where their mom’s partner, Ted, was going to pick them up after a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The connecting flight was initially delayed, and then later canceled altogether. The airline allegedly called Ted and told him the kids would be placed in a “nice room for unaccompanied minors where there were beds and their own bathroom,” the lawsuit states. He was also given a phone number that was supposed to allow him to contact the kids directly. Neither boy had a cellphone.
American Airlines emailed Amber at 11:40 p.m. July 30, 2022, saying that her sons were scheduled to fly at 5 p.m. the next day, yet she had no idea which flight they’d be on. She wasn't able to get in touch with her kids for hours until an employee at Charlotte’s Douglas International Airport connected her to one of them.
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One boy told his mom “that they had not had anything to eat or drink since the night before, not even a pretzel or snacks that are usually given out by the airline,” the lawsuit reads. “The room was freezing, and the children spent the night on a sofa with the lights on. Apparently, the children had been placed in a lost children’s room." The lawsuit claims that the airline was “reckless, careless, and negligent” and broke its policies and procedures when it “misplaced” the kids.
