A family who opted to let kids fly alone on a quick flight home was infuriated at how the plans changed, with the airline leaving them out of the loop.
Nine-year-old Carter and his 7-year-old sister Etta had been on many flights with their family before, but the first flight they ever took without their parents turned into a complete and utter disaster. It's every parent's worst nightmare made a reality — but the kids' adventure was more complex than anyone could have bargained for.
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The incident occurred on the evening of July 22, 2018. Carter and Etta boarded a flight from Des Moines, Iowa, to Orlando, Florida, while returning from their grandparents' home.
The siblings' mom waited for them at the airport in Orlando, but she never spoke to anyone with the airline while waiting or making her pickup plans. She had no clue that severe weather had diverted her kids' plane to Atlanta.
Carter and Etta's parents were totally out of the loop until Carter was able to use another unaccompanied minor's cellphone to call his dad, Chad, after midnight.
Chad claims an airline employee drove the pair of unaccompanied siblings, in her own personal vehicle, to a nearby Holiday Inn — without his permission.
There were reportedly four other unaccompanied minors in the hotel room, plus the one female airline employee who drove them there.
The airline, however, had a different story to tell that led to dad Chad going after the company in a big way. Are they in the right? Or should the airline have done more?
