The Guvnor
30th Dec 2001, 22:32
From today's Sunday Times:
[quote]Mom's fury as airline 'forgets' child - again
Nashira Davids
SA Airways has apologised to the parents of a 10-year-old girl after she was abandoned for more than two hours at Cape Town International Airport on Friday.
The girl had been checked in by her mother, Diane Watson, as an unaccompanied minor on a flight bound for Durban, but was left in a waiting area at the airport after a ticket officer to whom she had been entrusted "forgot" about her, according to SAA spokesman Rich Mkhondo.
As the girl waited for an escort, her flight, with her luggage on board, departed without her, according to Watson and confirmed by Mkhondo. After this was discovered, the child was put on the next flight to Durban, where her father was waiting for her.
Mkhondo, the airline's executive manager for corporate communications, said SAA had apologised to Watson for the inconvenience and would investigate the matter.
"We do admit that the child was left at the waiting room for two hours, but that is because the ticket officer simply forgot about her. This is a genuine mistake and we are investigating the matter so that it will never happen again," said Mkhondo.
But Watson is furious, pointing out that this was the second occasion in just over two years in which the airline had failed in its obligation to look after her daughter. The airline apologised for a similar incident involving her daughter at Cape Town International in July 1999.
On Friday, Watson said: "I took her to the check-in counter, where I filled in all the necessary forms because she was travelling as an unaccompanied minor.
"Usually they send an air hostess to fetch the child, but my daughter was told to wait in a waiting area."
Watson said her daughter eventually called her father on his cellphone to tell him that she was still waiting at the airport. Watson was contacted by the child's father and immediately informed the airline. Her daughter was then checked onto a later flight.
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[quote]Mom's fury as airline 'forgets' child - again
Nashira Davids
SA Airways has apologised to the parents of a 10-year-old girl after she was abandoned for more than two hours at Cape Town International Airport on Friday.
The girl had been checked in by her mother, Diane Watson, as an unaccompanied minor on a flight bound for Durban, but was left in a waiting area at the airport after a ticket officer to whom she had been entrusted "forgot" about her, according to SAA spokesman Rich Mkhondo.
As the girl waited for an escort, her flight, with her luggage on board, departed without her, according to Watson and confirmed by Mkhondo. After this was discovered, the child was put on the next flight to Durban, where her father was waiting for her.
Mkhondo, the airline's executive manager for corporate communications, said SAA had apologised to Watson for the inconvenience and would investigate the matter.
"We do admit that the child was left at the waiting room for two hours, but that is because the ticket officer simply forgot about her. This is a genuine mistake and we are investigating the matter so that it will never happen again," said Mkhondo.
But Watson is furious, pointing out that this was the second occasion in just over two years in which the airline had failed in its obligation to look after her daughter. The airline apologised for a similar incident involving her daughter at Cape Town International in July 1999.
On Friday, Watson said: "I took her to the check-in counter, where I filled in all the necessary forms because she was travelling as an unaccompanied minor.
"Usually they send an air hostess to fetch the child, but my daughter was told to wait in a waiting area."
Watson said her daughter eventually called her father on his cellphone to tell him that she was still waiting at the airport. Watson was contacted by the child's father and immediately informed the airline. Her daughter was then checked onto a later flight.
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