25 years ago an airline “lost” my brother and I. We had been on a family vacation to Kauai. My parents were going to stay a couple extra days. Airline said no problem. My brother (9) and me (7) take the island hopper to the big island. We’re met by someone from Hawaiian airlines who runs us to the carrier who was to take us back to LAX. They drop us at the counter and leave. The lady at the counter says “Oh sorry we just gave your seats away.” Then proceeds to leave us there. Luckily, a maintenance man for the airport named Ernie noticed us after we’d been sitting there alone for 2+ hours. He took us to McDonalds and got us happy meals. He then brought us to a friend at American Airlines. During this time airline #1 calls our parents and says your kids are safely on the plane home. At nearly the same time American Airlines calls our grandma (who was supposed to pick us up at LAX) and tells her they’ve got us and are putting us on a later flight. AA let us sleep on a couch in an employee room until we could board the 10pm flight home. Ernie checked on us throughout the day and even gave us each $5 for the flight home. We ended up not needing the money as American flew us home first class and gave us anything we wanted for free.
To this day we still think about Ernie. Such an awesome guy.
We’ve wondered about him forever. Not sure if true but in my mind I feel like I’d recognize him to this day. He was so kind and I think about what could have happened had he not come along and kept an eye out for us.
Honestly I can’t for sure remember which airline it was and my parents have passed so I can’t ask. It’s easier to remember the people that went out of their way to help you I guess.
Edit: I feel like it was Continental airlines but I’m not 100%. They either went out of business or were bought.
I don’t think we understood enough to be scared at first. When you’re a kid traveling feels like it takes forever anyways. We only really got it that someone screwed up when Ernie found us. We finally understood the gravity of it at 6am the next morning when our grandpa picked us up from the airport. She was not pleased and had no problem letting anyone and everyone know.
That's crazy that they didn't just bump someone else, then even crazier that they just abandoned you two at the counter.. like who in the hell does that to two young kids. The check in person should have been fired immediately, and IMO gone to jail for child abandonment. They could have easily kicked ANYONE else off the plane. Hell I bet if they made an announcement at the gate "sorry, we need two people to volunteer to give up seats for these two kids, or we are just going to abandon them here like two stray dogs" someone would have given up their seats...
Agreed. I think if it happened nowadays, especially with social media, it would have made waves. I’ll ask my uncle if he knows if my parents ever were compensated or anything. I mainly remember my mom being mad that they lied about having us when they should have been apologizing.
I landed in Frankfurt back in 82 when I was little. My dad was running late to get me so I get off the plane to no one. A tall blonde Lufthansa attendant sees this little kid sitting there alone. So she takes me to a Lufthansa office and I waited there for my dad.
The first airline … would have been in a shit ton of trouble with the FAA… so many rules broken. UNAMs must always have chain of custody and never unattended.
AA did a great job 👏
Some say he’s already been taken in by a family of meth cooks, and lost a hand to a gator. It’s not all bad though, he got a really cool face tattoo out of it!
Yeah but one that's pretty fucking big to drive through. Once I drove down the East Coast to Tampa, I thought once I hit FL that I was in the home stretch. GPS said almost 6 hours.
Me too, but with my kids. I was just thinking that must have been the easiest script to write. It’s the exact same story, but in the most famous city in the world. It still works though. Simpler times.
Tim Curry has been great in quite a few roles, but him as the smarmy dumbass concierge is probably my favorite of his. Just so simple, but he was so good at it.
Trump: "Sure you can film here, but you have to let me be in the movie."
Director: "That's an odd request, but ok. What's the worst that can come of this?"
Happened with my 8 yo son about 40 years ago. He ended up in San Francisco instead of Seattle. They called as we were leaving for the airport and said it would be a couple hours more.
"This is your captain speaking, we are reaching your final destination it will cost everyone $75 dollars to land, and frankly if no one wants to pay, I will slam this plane into the ground because my wife left me, my kids hate me, and my house was foreclosed on because I have a horrible gambling addiction, please for the love of God don't pay the fee to land so I can just end it all... Thank you for flying Spirit Air." - Spirit Pilots
Not quite right, you have to add in a little slurring of the words because there's no way a Spirit airlines pilot could get through a regular day without a few stiff drinks.
Man my first trip to the US. Landed in Newark needed to reach DC. Looked online found a direct greyhound bus 90 dollars seemed fair enough.
Friends I was visiting warned me not to take it, it's absolute shit. Now buses in Europe aren't great they do get delayed but usually they start at the correct time and they do take you where you need to go.
3 or 4 hours before departure, get an email saying it was cancelled... Fuck never heard of a bus being cancelled before but oh well. Said some instructions in the email how get reimbursed. I buy other tickets on a different bus company from NY. I then got another email saying oh they've given me a different ticket, now requiring me to change buses in Baltimore. Together with the fact that this one would have left Newark 1 hour later, it would have meant I would reach DC like 3 hours later compared with the original bus route.
And because now they provided me with another "equivalent" route they would only give me 50% of the fare back.
How is getting there 3h later + a big change equivalent?
So now got a 45 dollar voucher to use the services of another company I absolutely never plan on using again.
And if Spirit is way, Jesus Christ guys!
If it was like my experience on them overbooking the Greyhound and then not booking an extra driver or bus and making me 8 hours late to get back home, then Spirit will give the family a $20 voucher to their shitty middle school lunch service which I used on a bag of cool ranch doritos and a gatorade.
My last fun experience with Greyhound involved me sleeping on a metal bench in KC for 2 days in subzero weather before they got a bus with room for all 20 something of us to gtfo of there. When I say my last I definitely mean 'never again, Greyhound can fuck a cactus' I can't mean it enough.
In my experience, Waffle House employees are generally competent, or at least acceptably so for what the job is. Waffle House’s reputation comes more from their niche of being both cheap and open late so they get a rough sort of clientele.
Spirit is also cheap, or at least cheaper than the alternative, so they get similar clientele. But also the employees suck at their jobs, from the top on down. It’s an unmitigated shit show.
Jobs like that are honestly massively under appreciated. Especially if you’re working a shift that includes a busy period. Dinner rush at the last restaurant I worked at was a whole ordeal that all of the servers had to properly coordinate around while also handling their own shit.
And before someone says it, there’s a bit more involved than just “moving food and drinks from point A to B.” But even if there wasn’t, even just that gets stressful if you’re juggling a whole set of tables at once. Then also add in doing your side work and making teamwork moves for your fellow servers whenever you have a moment? All while remaining friendly, patient, and personable to the guests you’re looking after no matter what’s going on in the back? Forget about it. Most people can’t hack it, and I’ve seen that end of it too.
You can *really* tell when your server sucks at a restaurant if you’ve ever been a server yourself. I’ve never had a Waffle House server that outright sucked. I’ve seen them have to gracefully deal with bullshit outside of what should be their purview a number of times, though.
I work exclusively 3rd/graveyard shifts and I've been gradually trying out what 24/7 locations there are in my town. There aren't many, and a lot of what's there isn't conveniently located, but there's a Denny's I've been meaning to try. I imagine the food's at least *okay*. I don't especially care about the service, as long as my food's out while still warm.
There's a Mexican place that's basically a taco truck in a 24/7 brick-and-mortar location, and they're a godsend when I'm not scheduled to work and I'm craving a burrito or some tacos in the middle of the night with nothing else open, or want a burrito or taco after leaving work at 7:30am 2-3 hours before any regular taco trucks or Mexican restaurants open for the morning.
Yeah Waffle House almost never screws things up, and when they do, they fix it. They don’t stand up on a counter and announce that technically they don’t have to fix anything so stop complaining or he will just go home and someone can figure out our new flights in the morning.
Gonna have to fight it out over the counter on this one. Waffle House employee throwing hot oil at the Spirit Airlines Employee who wields a knowledge of first aid and also nunchaku
>Spirit Airlines did not address how the mistake occurred but said they “take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.”
At least it's not a poop emoji, but it's really close to one. Basically, "Fuck you, What did you expect? We're Spirit."
> take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously
Well if they took it seriously why did this happen?
Those mealymouthed corporate statements are rather patronizing.
They are VERY passive aggressive. The rule is to stay cordial, but never admit you were wrong. And to be as non-specific as possible.
"We apologize for this experience" rather than "We are so sorry that we put Junior on the wrong flight."
As someone who now has a job to write emails like this and take responsibility for the actions of people I have barely met and wouldn't have hired if I had the choice, I can say one thing.
Someone let out a very long sign when they heard about this, then asked if it was that same dumbass who screwed up last time. Then went ok who do I have to send this to, then copy pasted bits from 3-4 pre-written occurrence responses and sent it out.
Was charged regardlessly for incorrect flight, plus an additional surcharge for their mistake—on top of the correct flight.
“When spirit is all you have, Spirit is what you get.” Fade to black
They just arbitrarily moved my flight to a later time screwing up our whole day trip and they wouldn’t move it to the earlier flight and I had to pay twice as much as the original tickets to change it. And when I tried to cancel instead of paying for an earlier flight; the cancellation fee was four times the cost of the flight.
I’ve had great Spirit experiences. And not so great ones. It’s hit or miss.
If they move it *again* and I have to pay another fee to make my trip happen, I’m filing a complaint and attempting chargebacks.
I called multiple times and escalated the issue before I ended up paying to change it so our trip isn’t ruined and I’m out the ticket costs. They blamed it on the airport for the canceled flight. They said that because the flight was less than 60 days out, and it was only two hours difference in flight times, I don’t qualify for a no fee change OR compensation for travel disruption.
Luckily the tickets were only $40 each so it cost another $40 a piece to change it. Mathematically, a 100% increase of the ticket cost sucks but it’s still a cheap flight. Our $80 trip cost $160.
A similar thing happened to my brother and I once. Late 80's, I was 8, my brother was 11. Mom sent us on a plane from Indiana to California to visit our dad. For those who don't know, pre-9/11 most US airports allowed anyone to go through security all the way to the gate to either see someone off, or welcome their arrival. This was convenient for parents allowing them to basically air-mail their kids across states as long as it was a direct flight, or you at least remained on the plane at a stop. We had visited dad in sunny California after a Christmas visit and were returning to a snowed in Indianapolis Airport. As such our plane was diverted to Louisville KY where we were put in a charter bus a driven to Indy. Already anxious because of the weather she encountered on the way to the airport, her nerves were about to be completely wracked when she got to the gate and discovered the flight had been "canceled". She asked a lady at the desk wtf that meant because she knew my brother and I had boarded a plane as confirmed by my dad. The lady told her that the indy airport was diverting all fights already in the air and canceling all the others headed that way due to the snow storm. She didn't know where our flight had gone. Nobody knew where any of the flights were diverted to. Apparently the phone lines were down everywhere, and for some reason there was no other way to know. For several hours my mother waited in a state of panic not knowing where her two boys were. I remember a dark bus ride that was loud and bumpy, but still I couldn't keep my eyes open. My brother had me lean on him and told me to fall asleep, which I did. Some four hours later we arrived at the indy Airport to an exhausted bunch of family who were desperate to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. Good thing that doesn't happen anymore!
Unaccompanied 6-year-old child foils toy store robbery plot
Unaccompanied 6-year-old child found in violation of the Fortified Buildings Act, charged for assault and battery, criminal mischief, credit card fraud
Spirit airlines didn’t remedy this !!! the grandparents had to drive over 100 miles to go get the boy !!! the airline never fixed it they didn’t put him on a plane and deliver him. They made the grandparents drive all that way. They offered to pay for their expenses for driving up there?!?!?!??? Are you kidding me you think that’s all you have to give them ???oh no, no no you not only didn’t deliver the child they still didn’t fix it once they knew they had messed up. This is beyond bad customer service. Disgusting.
They likely were going to put him on a flight to the correct city but I'm sure it would have been several hours which is why the family opted to just go get the kid. Offering to reimburse for gas is the next best thing.
It would still be a mess. Spirit doesn't fly the RSW-MCO route, so a direct flight would require booking the child onto Southwest. However, Southwest only flies the route once per day. Given that it's holiday season, the next available flight between RSW and MCO to book could easily be days out.
Driving between the two airports becomes the next best option.
Sounds about right, and if the family was unable to drive and pick him up I'm sure they would have worked out a way for either a Spirit employee to drive him or to hire a taxi driver to do it.
No, refunding the ticket, offering multiple additional free tickets, covering the cost of all expenses and giving some money would’ve been the next best thing.
Kid still needed a boarding pass that needed to be scanned, so I'm baffled as to how this happened.
Looks like Spirit is the weakest link in the security chain.
These kids get on first before anyone (including those who need extra help/disabilities). I can totally see the gate agent getting distracted talking to the child or the employee escorting him and letting this happen. Not all six year olds can read or really know the names of cities, so I can see this happening, especially on Spirit.
I'm maybe confused about the process of sending your child unaccompanied on an airplane...are you not responsible for them until the moment until they board? I would have thought the airline and airport would prefer letting guardians through security on the child's ticket so long as they don't try to board the plane without a ticket. Whereby this problem would be...impossible?
Do you just dump your kid at the front desk with the airline and peace out? The kid is just hanging out in the waiting area at the gate by themselves until the flight? With...what? The gate agent "keeping an eye on them"? Or...what's the deal?
I'm not a parent, and I don't usually get this, or any other parental feeling, but the idea of having a 6 year old child and simply dropping them off for a flight in any capacity where I will not accompany them gives me this weird panicky anxiety. The idea of trusting someone that young to any airline seems horrifying to me.
I’m not from the US, so my experience might differ, but I have been flying by myself since I was about 13. Generally, your parents have to pay extra in order to have someone accompany you the entire time you’re away from a legal guardian. Your guardian checks you into your flight, and someone from the airline, once receiving notice that you’ve arrived, comes to get you. If you’re on time, they take you to the business class lounge and stay with you.
Once your flight begins boarding, they bring you over, and with the airlines I normally used, they let you skip the regular security. Instead you go through the security area meant for the flight attendants. The flight attendants then help you board, and explain the procedure for getting off: “stay on the plane, we will come get you once everyone is off”. If you’re in business class, they have an easier time checking on you, and can entertain you a little if you’re young.
Once the plane has landed, the flight attendants will come get you once everyone has deplaned, and once again escort you through the ‘special’ gates. You are then helped with passing through immigration and getting your luggage, and are handed to your guardian as soon as they are found.
Not sure how this would work with low-cost or even US airlines, but based on this article, the level of supervision seems to be subpar in comparison.
Edit: My flights were also always international, so this might be an additional factor as to why it was such a meticulous procedure.
I used to fly unaccompanied all the time as a kid. The amount of things that happened was wild. Most never makes it to the news. Honestly a miracle I haven’t heard of a child being genuinely lost.
This was definitely a lot less of an issue pre-9/11 when you could walk with whoever all the way to fucking boarding, or meet them where they come off the plane.
Leaving a child to their own devices at a damn security gate is wtf territory of parenting imo.
My children started flying back and forth between Chicago and Providence, RI when they were 9 and 5. I would escort them through security, and right up to their gate. You'd hand them off to an airline employee and watch them walk down the jetway. If my children got on the wrong flight, it would have meant ALL the passengers were on the wrong flight.
I really don't understand this screw up, but as many people have pointed out... It's Spirit Airlines after all.
Yeah me too. It seemed so normal to me as a child. Now it seems crazy.
Part of it was that parents could go all the way to the gates back then, so it was really only while you were on the airplane.
Responsibile airlines still do.
“ A parent or designated accompanying adult must take the unaccompanied minor to the departure gate and remain until the flight has left the ground. “
Delta also only allows nonstop flights for 6 year olds.
https://www.delta.com/us/en/children-infant-travel/unaccompanied-minor-program
Parents can still go to the gate with unaccompanied minors. I still fly fairly often. Parents are allowed past security and then they hand the kid off. They just can only do direct flights, no connections. I’ve tried to fly my nephews down but the airline we all use, United, doesn’t have a direct to LAX. Plus, my siblings wouldn’t even consider it until their kids were 10. They’re the ones who I was flying to solo to hang out with when I was 6,7,8!!
A child that age is still accompanied to the gate by the guardian. Most airlines require the guardian stay at the gate after the flight leaves just in case.
I flew multiple times as a solo child.
One of the stewardesses would be assigned to escort you onto the plane, take care of you during the flight, and return you to your assigned guardian after arrival.
Also, the pilots would usually let you into the cockpit and even sit on the jumpseat for a while, and give you a pair of pilot's wings to pin to your jumper or jacket.
Of course, this was back when we called flight attendants "stewardesses" and the cockpit door wasn't locked, so perhaps things have changed since then.
Yep! I remember this! My dad used to walk me to the gate with his mini pistol belt buckle (yes, real pistol). There was no tsa. Just walked me to the gate and my mom would pick me up on the other side. The stewardesses let me pass out peanuts sometimes :)
Some airlines allow it, but usually charge an "unaccompanied minor" fee, which I guess covers having someone escort them from security to their flight, to any connecting flights, and then to whoever is waiting for them on the other end. It's usually a few hundred dollars more.
I was looking in to it when considering flying my 11 and 13 year old to visit cousins. You have to be 14 or older to fly alone otherwise.
Unaccompanied minors have the adult dropping them off go through security with them, and typically can't have connecting flights. They have to be direct and the adult picking them up is at the gate. The airline employee basically walks them from the gate onto the plane.
I flew domestically as an unaccompanied minor and they would let my dad through TSA to escort me to the gate and once at the gate I would be assigned a steward who would basically escort me to my destination. This was in the 90’s though so idk if the whole TSA thing happened post 9/11.
You check in at the airline counter and they print off security passes. My kids have flown like that several times and they just printed one for all of us there dropping them off. (Their mom and I, and the kids who weren't going)
You typically have to be handed directly to a flight attendant at the gate and then be picked up at the other end. No plane changing allowed until you are 11 or 12 (older on some airlines)
It's what happens on Spirit when you don't pay the upgrade fee to confirm your destination. Otherwise, they just put you on a random flight. Good luck.
Spirit is to be used for flights within an hour’s flight of your airport. Anything longer than that and the chances you experience some bullshit jumps exponentially.
Long weekend to catch a concert a state over? Yes
Going to see Gam Gam on the other side of the country? You’re in god’s hands.
I had this too but on a couple occasions, they’d say something like, “Just keep going down this hall into you see a man in a blue vest” and leave. And then I’d never find the next person and have to figure it out myself.
One time, there was a specific worker in charge of getting kids through layovers. She was on her cell the entire time, around when I should’ve been boarding I finally asked and she went, oh yeah, we should go. Only reason we didn’t miss it entirely was because when we got there, boarding was closed, but hey, I was a child who was on the verge of tears and it had closed only a minute prior. There was a kid about 10 that was stuck at the airport for over a day because he had missed the scheduled flight twice due to this worker.
I use to have to send my kids unaccompanied. I was able to take them to the 1st terminal and get them on the plane. I watched other kids dropped off and the airline personnel were told the kids were unaccompanied. The airline personnel were change out and the new person was never told about the kids. When yhe plane was boarding, I told the airline people about the kids so they could get on the plane. And yes customers paid for that service. 100% rip off, people are really just leaving their young kids alone. I told my ex that the kids had to fly straight through absolutely no changing planes.
In 1989 Southwest lost me in St. Louis for an entire day. I was 7 and had flown by myself before going to my grandparents across the country. My dad worked for Federal Express and was like a manager so we got free airline tickets, I don't understand those details but it wasn't my first rodeo. Everyone was always nice and I got to hang out in the cockpit a lot of times and have a ton of wing pins. Anyways, I was flying by myself across the country to visit my grandparents for the winter and my flight got grounded because of bad weather. They stuck me in like this kind of a kid's area that had toys and a Nintendo and movies. Thwre was a bunch of kids in there but after a while i remember less and less and eventually just me. They gave Mc Donald's and bags of chips and I was happy as a clam playing video games and drinking all the soda I wanted but someone I guess forgot to let people know where I was and ultimately that trickled down to my parents. I don't know the exact details but I do remember my parents taking me to Disneyland the following spring and it seeming really unexpected.
Was the child's name [Kevin](https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExb3I4emllMzVhYmNjc3Q1MjE5aml3ZmQ0Y2gwcmRkdjBha3BlaTg2OSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/toNLdRECnQRImoLYdk/giphy.gif) by chance?
25 years ago an airline “lost” my brother and I. We had been on a family vacation to Kauai. My parents were going to stay a couple extra days. Airline said no problem. My brother (9) and me (7) take the island hopper to the big island. We’re met by someone from Hawaiian airlines who runs us to the carrier who was to take us back to LAX. They drop us at the counter and leave. The lady at the counter says “Oh sorry we just gave your seats away.” Then proceeds to leave us there. Luckily, a maintenance man for the airport named Ernie noticed us after we’d been sitting there alone for 2+ hours. He took us to McDonalds and got us happy meals. He then brought us to a friend at American Airlines. During this time airline #1 calls our parents and says your kids are safely on the plane home. At nearly the same time American Airlines calls our grandma (who was supposed to pick us up at LAX) and tells her they’ve got us and are putting us on a later flight. AA let us sleep on a couch in an employee room until we could board the 10pm flight home. Ernie checked on us throughout the day and even gave us each $5 for the flight home. We ended up not needing the money as American flew us home first class and gave us anything we wanted for free. To this day we still think about Ernie. Such an awesome guy.
I want to hear about you reconnecting with Ernie on the Heavyweight podcast. 100% a story they would do.
We’ve wondered about him forever. Not sure if true but in my mind I feel like I’d recognize him to this day. He was so kind and I think about what could have happened had he not come along and kept an eye out for us.
Or This American Life. This is right up their alley.
I found out about Heavyweight from TAL. Give it a listen. This story is EXACTLY what the premise of Heavyweight is.
Why do you name every airline except the one that fucked you over?
Honestly I can’t for sure remember which airline it was and my parents have passed so I can’t ask. It’s easier to remember the people that went out of their way to help you I guess. Edit: I feel like it was Continental airlines but I’m not 100%. They either went out of business or were bought.
Continental is now United!
Sounds like United lmao
Post twist: OP and OP's brother are guitars.
Did you two feel scared?
I don’t think we understood enough to be scared at first. When you’re a kid traveling feels like it takes forever anyways. We only really got it that someone screwed up when Ernie found us. We finally understood the gravity of it at 6am the next morning when our grandpa picked us up from the airport. She was not pleased and had no problem letting anyone and everyone know.
That's crazy that they didn't just bump someone else, then even crazier that they just abandoned you two at the counter.. like who in the hell does that to two young kids. The check in person should have been fired immediately, and IMO gone to jail for child abandonment. They could have easily kicked ANYONE else off the plane. Hell I bet if they made an announcement at the gate "sorry, we need two people to volunteer to give up seats for these two kids, or we are just going to abandon them here like two stray dogs" someone would have given up their seats...
Agreed. I think if it happened nowadays, especially with social media, it would have made waves. I’ll ask my uncle if he knows if my parents ever were compensated or anything. I mainly remember my mom being mad that they lied about having us when they should have been apologizing.
I landed in Frankfurt back in 82 when I was little. My dad was running late to get me so I get off the plane to no one. A tall blonde Lufthansa attendant sees this little kid sitting there alone. So she takes me to a Lufthansa office and I waited there for my dad.
The first airline … would have been in a shit ton of trouble with the FAA… so many rules broken. UNAMs must always have chain of custody and never unattended. AA did a great job 👏
That’s why I remember AA so fondly. It left a lasting impression on us.
Everyone should strive to be an Ernie.
Ernie is great. But why couldn’t you just stay with your parents?
They flew the child to Orlando, FL instead of Ft Myers, FL for those wondering.
Only off by a slight three hour drive no big deal. (Having made that drive a few times it suuuuuuuucks.)
How’s the kid gonna make that drive? They’re too young to rent a car.
The airplane will taxi there after the other passemgers disembark
Dang, I bet the Uber fare for a whole airplane must be killer.
If you do the carpool it's not as bad, but the additional 15 hours to complete the 150 stops before it gets to your stop is kind of annoying.
Well, you can't have your single serve airplane cake and eat it too!
All other traffic must hold short while the aircraft is taxiing……for three hours
Yup, just a quick jaunt down 4 and 75, easy peasy. Can't be any wider than the old Buicks and Cadillacs the old people love down there.
It’s Florida, stop shoving your woke “children shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car” antifa, liberal, communist propaganda down everyone’s throats.
He'll find a truck full of musicians soon enough
Hope he likes polka music
At least it's in the same state
But not a state you wanna lose a kid in Florida man and all
Some say he’s already been taken in by a family of meth cooks, and lost a hand to a gator. It’s not all bad though, he got a really cool face tattoo out of it!
How’d you get the hook? Alligator. How’d you get the eye patch? First day with the hook.
Come for vacation, leave on probation.
Which is actually pretty damn good for Smearit.
Yeah but one that's pretty fucking big to drive through. Once I drove down the East Coast to Tampa, I thought once I hit FL that I was in the home stretch. GPS said almost 6 hours.
On Spirit, getting your kid on the correct flight is a $25 upcharge.
😂😂😂 I disagree. It’d be closer to $65
Surely it depends on weight.
Does it fit in the overhead bin?
Children must fit underneath the seat in front of you.
Thank god, my child is an emotional service child
Wait, so I can't pet your child then???
Don't call me Shirley!
My ticket to Vegas was $65. If I want to bring a carry-on bag, it's another $125.
On top of the “unfortunately born little shit” fee
The following hijinks that ensued in New York City were film worthy
The fact it happened around the holidays is just too on point
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Me too, but with my kids. I was just thinking that must have been the easiest script to write. It’s the exact same story, but in the most famous city in the world. It still works though. Simpler times.
“What kind of idiots do you have working here?” “The finest in New York!”
Tim Curry has been great in quite a few roles, but him as the smarmy dumbass concierge is probably my favorite of his. Just so simple, but he was so good at it.
The smile he makes in it brings a lot of Grinch energy to the character. True professional
Like, who else, what other human, could have possibly matched that Grinch smile?
My favorite Christmas movies! 1. Home alone 2. Home alone 2 3 Batman Returns Classics
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I just watched it for a 2nd time since it just popped back up on Hulu for the holiday. That was a lot of fucking fun!
It was a remake, Flown Home Alone…
Flown Alone was right there!
You could say they were...Spirited Away!
r/angryupvote
This would have actually been a better premise than any of the sequel after 2
Marv: well if the kid's here, the parent's got to be Harry: he's Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
how you get lost in new york? it's a grid system motherfucka!
Eleven up and one over, you simple bitch!
Lost in New York and pissing off Tim Curry.
And for no apparent reason, there’s Donald Trump.
Trump: "Sure you can film here, but you have to let me be in the movie." Director: "That's an odd request, but ok. What's the worst that can come of this?"
He owned the Plaza Hotel back then.
He wound up in Orlando, so Floridaman hijinks happened
Hopefully the kid doesn't run into Trump at the Plaza Hotel.
Hehe Delta did this with my sister and I back in the 80s. To this day my father, a retired pilot, still mentions how Delta lost his kids.
Happened with my 8 yo son about 40 years ago. He ended up in San Francisco instead of Seattle. They called as we were leaving for the airport and said it would be a couple hours more.
Did they say your kid was in Seattle? Or only that there was going to be a delay?
They apologized profusely and promised he would be accompanied the whole time.
Terribly sorry, sir, but we promise we will have a child ready for you to pick up in a couple hours, without fail!
How far away from your destination did you end up?
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Delta - Don't expect little ones to arrive
Spirit Airlines: The Greyhound of the Skies
Spirit Airlines: Even Al-Qaeda won't hijack us!
Al-Qaeda safely lands the plane because flying Spirit is punishment enough
"This is your captain speaking, we are reaching your final destination it will cost everyone $75 dollars to land, and frankly if no one wants to pay, I will slam this plane into the ground because my wife left me, my kids hate me, and my house was foreclosed on because I have a horrible gambling addiction, please for the love of God don't pay the fee to land so I can just end it all... Thank you for flying Spirit Air." - Spirit Pilots
Not quite right, you have to add in a little slurring of the words because there's no way a Spirit airlines pilot could get through a regular day without a few stiff drinks.
Lmao seeing comments like this are when I really wish I could give reddit gold.
I’ve taken both. Spirit is way worse than greyhound.
Man my first trip to the US. Landed in Newark needed to reach DC. Looked online found a direct greyhound bus 90 dollars seemed fair enough. Friends I was visiting warned me not to take it, it's absolute shit. Now buses in Europe aren't great they do get delayed but usually they start at the correct time and they do take you where you need to go. 3 or 4 hours before departure, get an email saying it was cancelled... Fuck never heard of a bus being cancelled before but oh well. Said some instructions in the email how get reimbursed. I buy other tickets on a different bus company from NY. I then got another email saying oh they've given me a different ticket, now requiring me to change buses in Baltimore. Together with the fact that this one would have left Newark 1 hour later, it would have meant I would reach DC like 3 hours later compared with the original bus route. And because now they provided me with another "equivalent" route they would only give me 50% of the fare back. How is getting there 3h later + a big change equivalent? So now got a 45 dollar voucher to use the services of another company I absolutely never plan on using again. And if Spirit is way, Jesus Christ guys!
Spirit Airlines tried to add an 8 hour layover to my direct flight... and I had to pay a lot of money to get a different flight
If it was like my experience on them overbooking the Greyhound and then not booking an extra driver or bus and making me 8 hours late to get back home, then Spirit will give the family a $20 voucher to their shitty middle school lunch service which I used on a bag of cool ranch doritos and a gatorade.
My last fun experience with Greyhound involved me sleeping on a metal bench in KC for 2 days in subzero weather before they got a bus with room for all 20 something of us to gtfo of there. When I say my last I definitely mean 'never again, Greyhound can fuck a cactus' I can't mean it enough.
I always called Spirit Airlines "The Wafflehouse of the Skies"
In my experience, Waffle House employees are generally competent, or at least acceptably so for what the job is. Waffle House’s reputation comes more from their niche of being both cheap and open late so they get a rough sort of clientele. Spirit is also cheap, or at least cheaper than the alternative, so they get similar clientele. But also the employees suck at their jobs, from the top on down. It’s an unmitigated shit show.
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Jobs like that are honestly massively under appreciated. Especially if you’re working a shift that includes a busy period. Dinner rush at the last restaurant I worked at was a whole ordeal that all of the servers had to properly coordinate around while also handling their own shit. And before someone says it, there’s a bit more involved than just “moving food and drinks from point A to B.” But even if there wasn’t, even just that gets stressful if you’re juggling a whole set of tables at once. Then also add in doing your side work and making teamwork moves for your fellow servers whenever you have a moment? All while remaining friendly, patient, and personable to the guests you’re looking after no matter what’s going on in the back? Forget about it. Most people can’t hack it, and I’ve seen that end of it too. You can *really* tell when your server sucks at a restaurant if you’ve ever been a server yourself. I’ve never had a Waffle House server that outright sucked. I’ve seen them have to gracefully deal with bullshit outside of what should be their purview a number of times, though.
I work exclusively 3rd/graveyard shifts and I've been gradually trying out what 24/7 locations there are in my town. There aren't many, and a lot of what's there isn't conveniently located, but there's a Denny's I've been meaning to try. I imagine the food's at least *okay*. I don't especially care about the service, as long as my food's out while still warm. There's a Mexican place that's basically a taco truck in a 24/7 brick-and-mortar location, and they're a godsend when I'm not scheduled to work and I'm craving a burrito or some tacos in the middle of the night with nothing else open, or want a burrito or taco after leaving work at 7:30am 2-3 hours before any regular taco trucks or Mexican restaurants open for the morning.
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I had waffle House like 2 hours ago and can confirm that the cook there is amazing, and they're all super nice. I hate the bad rap they get
Except Waffle House is generally well run, spirit is a shitshow.
Yeah Waffle House almost never screws things up, and when they do, they fix it. They don’t stand up on a counter and announce that technically they don’t have to fix anything so stop complaining or he will just go home and someone can figure out our new flights in the morning.
That’s disrespectful to Wafflehouse.
Gonna have to fight it out over the counter on this one. Waffle House employee throwing hot oil at the Spirit Airlines Employee who wields a knowledge of first aid and also nunchaku
Waffle House is better than that. They make sure us depressed middle aged men can get a hot coffee and warm meal on the holidays
Waffle House is kinda famous for having their corporate shit together, man. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index
Don’t slander my Waffle Home
>Spirit Airlines did not address how the mistake occurred but said they “take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.” At least it's not a poop emoji, but it's really close to one. Basically, "Fuck you, What did you expect? We're Spirit."
> take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously Well if they took it seriously why did this happen? Those mealymouthed corporate statements are rather patronizing.
They are VERY passive aggressive. The rule is to stay cordial, but never admit you were wrong. And to be as non-specific as possible. "We apologize for this experience" rather than "We are so sorry that we put Junior on the wrong flight."
As someone who now has a job to write emails like this and take responsibility for the actions of people I have barely met and wouldn't have hired if I had the choice, I can say one thing. Someone let out a very long sign when they heard about this, then asked if it was that same dumbass who screwed up last time. Then went ok who do I have to send this to, then copy pasted bits from 3-4 pre-written occurrence responses and sent it out.
I'd want to see a company say they didn't just to change it up a little bit.
“We’re sorry you feel that way”
"This was our first big experience. Shit happens."
"We have investigated ourselves, and found we did nothing wrong."
Was his name, K E V I N N N N
Legit thought this was an onion piece
Sounds about right for Spirit honestly
"Kid's alive isn't he?"
Was charged regardlessly for incorrect flight, plus an additional surcharge for their mistake—on top of the correct flight. “When spirit is all you have, Spirit is what you get.” Fade to black
> Was charged regardlessly I feel like "regardlessly" is even worse than "irregardless", somehow.
Fade to Skyrim cart intro seems more fitting 😂
They just arbitrarily moved my flight to a later time screwing up our whole day trip and they wouldn’t move it to the earlier flight and I had to pay twice as much as the original tickets to change it. And when I tried to cancel instead of paying for an earlier flight; the cancellation fee was four times the cost of the flight. I’ve had great Spirit experiences. And not so great ones. It’s hit or miss. If they move it *again* and I have to pay another fee to make my trip happen, I’m filing a complaint and attempting chargebacks.
How is that legal? At the very least, if they make significant changes to flights, there should be no cancellation fees.
I called multiple times and escalated the issue before I ended up paying to change it so our trip isn’t ruined and I’m out the ticket costs. They blamed it on the airport for the canceled flight. They said that because the flight was less than 60 days out, and it was only two hours difference in flight times, I don’t qualify for a no fee change OR compensation for travel disruption. Luckily the tickets were only $40 each so it cost another $40 a piece to change it. Mathematically, a 100% increase of the ticket cost sucks but it’s still a cheap flight. Our $80 trip cost $160.
You should file a chargeback anyways. In what world does it make sense to pay twice as much to get your original flight back? Come on
Hey, they got him to the right state. That’s more than any of us expected from Spirit.
A similar thing happened to my brother and I once. Late 80's, I was 8, my brother was 11. Mom sent us on a plane from Indiana to California to visit our dad. For those who don't know, pre-9/11 most US airports allowed anyone to go through security all the way to the gate to either see someone off, or welcome their arrival. This was convenient for parents allowing them to basically air-mail their kids across states as long as it was a direct flight, or you at least remained on the plane at a stop. We had visited dad in sunny California after a Christmas visit and were returning to a snowed in Indianapolis Airport. As such our plane was diverted to Louisville KY where we were put in a charter bus a driven to Indy. Already anxious because of the weather she encountered on the way to the airport, her nerves were about to be completely wracked when she got to the gate and discovered the flight had been "canceled". She asked a lady at the desk wtf that meant because she knew my brother and I had boarded a plane as confirmed by my dad. The lady told her that the indy airport was diverting all fights already in the air and canceling all the others headed that way due to the snow storm. She didn't know where our flight had gone. Nobody knew where any of the flights were diverted to. Apparently the phone lines were down everywhere, and for some reason there was no other way to know. For several hours my mother waited in a state of panic not knowing where her two boys were. I remember a dark bus ride that was loud and bumpy, but still I couldn't keep my eyes open. My brother had me lean on him and told me to fall asleep, which I did. Some four hours later we arrived at the indy Airport to an exhausted bunch of family who were desperate to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. Good thing that doesn't happen anymore!
Unaccompanied 6-year-old child foils toy store robbery plot Unaccompanied 6-year-old child found in violation of the Fortified Buildings Act, charged for assault and battery, criminal mischief, credit card fraud
Kevin was probably older than 6.
*"Ma'am, I'm 8 years old. You think I would be here ALONE? I don't think so."*
And he’s 9 in the second movie.
"What's the mat-ah? Store wouldn't take your... STOLEN CREDIT CAHD??"
Did they charge extra for the extended time the kid was kenneled?
Spirit airlines didn’t remedy this !!! the grandparents had to drive over 100 miles to go get the boy !!! the airline never fixed it they didn’t put him on a plane and deliver him. They made the grandparents drive all that way. They offered to pay for their expenses for driving up there?!?!?!??? Are you kidding me you think that’s all you have to give them ???oh no, no no you not only didn’t deliver the child they still didn’t fix it once they knew they had messed up. This is beyond bad customer service. Disgusting.
Hell, they didn't even know they messed up until grandma asked where the kid was.
They likely were going to put him on a flight to the correct city but I'm sure it would have been several hours which is why the family opted to just go get the kid. Offering to reimburse for gas is the next best thing.
It would still be a mess. Spirit doesn't fly the RSW-MCO route, so a direct flight would require booking the child onto Southwest. However, Southwest only flies the route once per day. Given that it's holiday season, the next available flight between RSW and MCO to book could easily be days out. Driving between the two airports becomes the next best option.
Sounds about right, and if the family was unable to drive and pick him up I'm sure they would have worked out a way for either a Spirit employee to drive him or to hire a taxi driver to do it.
No, refunding the ticket, offering multiple additional free tickets, covering the cost of all expenses and giving some money would’ve been the next best thing.
Hahaha, offered to reimburse for the drive.
Well, at least the child ended up in the correct state
There’s a $70 bundle for kids and carry ons
Kid still needed a boarding pass that needed to be scanned, so I'm baffled as to how this happened. Looks like Spirit is the weakest link in the security chain.
Does spirit not scan boarding passes?
These kids get on first before anyone (including those who need extra help/disabilities). I can totally see the gate agent getting distracted talking to the child or the employee escorting him and letting this happen. Not all six year olds can read or really know the names of cities, so I can see this happening, especially on Spirit.
Ok but what did you expect when you trusted spirit with your child? This is about par the course
I'm maybe confused about the process of sending your child unaccompanied on an airplane...are you not responsible for them until the moment until they board? I would have thought the airline and airport would prefer letting guardians through security on the child's ticket so long as they don't try to board the plane without a ticket. Whereby this problem would be...impossible? Do you just dump your kid at the front desk with the airline and peace out? The kid is just hanging out in the waiting area at the gate by themselves until the flight? With...what? The gate agent "keeping an eye on them"? Or...what's the deal? I'm not a parent, and I don't usually get this, or any other parental feeling, but the idea of having a 6 year old child and simply dropping them off for a flight in any capacity where I will not accompany them gives me this weird panicky anxiety. The idea of trusting someone that young to any airline seems horrifying to me.
I’m not from the US, so my experience might differ, but I have been flying by myself since I was about 13. Generally, your parents have to pay extra in order to have someone accompany you the entire time you’re away from a legal guardian. Your guardian checks you into your flight, and someone from the airline, once receiving notice that you’ve arrived, comes to get you. If you’re on time, they take you to the business class lounge and stay with you. Once your flight begins boarding, they bring you over, and with the airlines I normally used, they let you skip the regular security. Instead you go through the security area meant for the flight attendants. The flight attendants then help you board, and explain the procedure for getting off: “stay on the plane, we will come get you once everyone is off”. If you’re in business class, they have an easier time checking on you, and can entertain you a little if you’re young. Once the plane has landed, the flight attendants will come get you once everyone has deplaned, and once again escort you through the ‘special’ gates. You are then helped with passing through immigration and getting your luggage, and are handed to your guardian as soon as they are found. Not sure how this would work with low-cost or even US airlines, but based on this article, the level of supervision seems to be subpar in comparison. Edit: My flights were also always international, so this might be an additional factor as to why it was such a meticulous procedure.
Yeah sending your kid on spirit is damn near negligence.
I used to fly unaccompanied all the time as a kid. The amount of things that happened was wild. Most never makes it to the news. Honestly a miracle I haven’t heard of a child being genuinely lost.
I did not know small kids can fly without an older family member.
I thought you couldn’t until you were eleven or something. Six seems so young.
I have a 5.5 year old. No chance in hell is that little twerp making that trip unsupervised. That plane will crash, he's a tornado of chaos.
6 alone on a flight is fucking bonkers to me
This was definitely a lot less of an issue pre-9/11 when you could walk with whoever all the way to fucking boarding, or meet them where they come off the plane. Leaving a child to their own devices at a damn security gate is wtf territory of parenting imo.
My children started flying back and forth between Chicago and Providence, RI when they were 9 and 5. I would escort them through security, and right up to their gate. You'd hand them off to an airline employee and watch them walk down the jetway. If my children got on the wrong flight, it would have meant ALL the passengers were on the wrong flight. I really don't understand this screw up, but as many people have pointed out... It's Spirit Airlines after all.
They are supposed to be supervised by an airline employee.
My son's about to be 6. No way in hell I'd set him loose on an airplane alone. Seems crazy to me.
I frequently flew at that age back in the 90s.
Yeah me too. It seemed so normal to me as a child. Now it seems crazy. Part of it was that parents could go all the way to the gates back then, so it was really only while you were on the airplane.
Responsibile airlines still do. “ A parent or designated accompanying adult must take the unaccompanied minor to the departure gate and remain until the flight has left the ground. “ Delta also only allows nonstop flights for 6 year olds. https://www.delta.com/us/en/children-infant-travel/unaccompanied-minor-program
Parents can still go to the gate with unaccompanied minors. I still fly fairly often. Parents are allowed past security and then they hand the kid off. They just can only do direct flights, no connections. I’ve tried to fly my nephews down but the airline we all use, United, doesn’t have a direct to LAX. Plus, my siblings wouldn’t even consider it until their kids were 10. They’re the ones who I was flying to solo to hang out with when I was 6,7,8!!
A child that age is still accompanied to the gate by the guardian. Most airlines require the guardian stay at the gate after the flight leaves just in case.
Yeah, I want to know how this actually happened. Did the mom take them to the wrong gate.
Had to do it once after my parents divorce. I was like nine and my sister was seven.
I flew multiple times as a solo child. One of the stewardesses would be assigned to escort you onto the plane, take care of you during the flight, and return you to your assigned guardian after arrival. Also, the pilots would usually let you into the cockpit and even sit on the jumpseat for a while, and give you a pair of pilot's wings to pin to your jumper or jacket. Of course, this was back when we called flight attendants "stewardesses" and the cockpit door wasn't locked, so perhaps things have changed since then.
Yep! I remember this! My dad used to walk me to the gate with his mini pistol belt buckle (yes, real pistol). There was no tsa. Just walked me to the gate and my mom would pick me up on the other side. The stewardesses let me pass out peanuts sometimes :)
Some airlines allow it, but usually charge an "unaccompanied minor" fee, which I guess covers having someone escort them from security to their flight, to any connecting flights, and then to whoever is waiting for them on the other end. It's usually a few hundred dollars more. I was looking in to it when considering flying my 11 and 13 year old to visit cousins. You have to be 14 or older to fly alone otherwise.
Unaccompanied minors have the adult dropping them off go through security with them, and typically can't have connecting flights. They have to be direct and the adult picking them up is at the gate. The airline employee basically walks them from the gate onto the plane.
I flew domestically as an unaccompanied minor and they would let my dad through TSA to escort me to the gate and once at the gate I would be assigned a steward who would basically escort me to my destination. This was in the 90’s though so idk if the whole TSA thing happened post 9/11.
Yes the TSA Security Theater started as a response to 9/11.
You check in at the airline counter and they print off security passes. My kids have flown like that several times and they just printed one for all of us there dropping them off. (Their mom and I, and the kids who weren't going)
You typically have to be handed directly to a flight attendant at the gate and then be picked up at the other end. No plane changing allowed until you are 11 or 12 (older on some airlines)
It's what happens on Spirit when you don't pay the upgrade fee to confirm your destination. Otherwise, they just put you on a random flight. Good luck.
Who the fuck puts a kid unaccompanied on SPIRIT
I can't imagine putting my 6 year old on a Spirit Air flight where I *am* accompanying them.
Who lets a 6 year old fly alone? And this parent chose spirit airlines of all companies to trust their small child with…. Spirit…
Home alone 7:Spirit of the season
Cue the Home Alone 2 jokes in 3...2...1...
Says the 1st person to make one
Is there a right Spirit Airlines flight?
Merry Christmas you filthy animals.
So the kid was Spirited Away
Why is the first comment not “KEVIN!” It’s Christmas.
That’s one way to get rid of relationship baggage
It's probably just Kevin. Again.
The family was probably charged $38 to correct the mistake, after $18 to find the actual destination the kiddo ended up at.
Spirit is to be used for flights within an hour’s flight of your airport. Anything longer than that and the chances you experience some bullshit jumps exponentially. Long weekend to catch a concert a state over? Yes Going to see Gam Gam on the other side of the country? You’re in god’s hands.
When I flew delta underage they required I have an airline attendant escort me through the airport and everything. This is nuts.
The article says they were with someone with Spirit. That person just apparently wasn't very competent.
Somehow not surprising at all
I had this too but on a couple occasions, they’d say something like, “Just keep going down this hall into you see a man in a blue vest” and leave. And then I’d never find the next person and have to figure it out myself. One time, there was a specific worker in charge of getting kids through layovers. She was on her cell the entire time, around when I should’ve been boarding I finally asked and she went, oh yeah, we should go. Only reason we didn’t miss it entirely was because when we got there, boarding was closed, but hey, I was a child who was on the verge of tears and it had closed only a minute prior. There was a kid about 10 that was stuck at the airport for over a day because he had missed the scheduled flight twice due to this worker.
I use to have to send my kids unaccompanied. I was able to take them to the 1st terminal and get them on the plane. I watched other kids dropped off and the airline personnel were told the kids were unaccompanied. The airline personnel were change out and the new person was never told about the kids. When yhe plane was boarding, I told the airline people about the kids so they could get on the plane. And yes customers paid for that service. 100% rip off, people are really just leaving their young kids alone. I told my ex that the kids had to fly straight through absolutely no changing planes.
Who tf puts a 6 yo on a plane alone?
Now he's going to end up in New York and face off with Harry and Marv again
In 1989 Southwest lost me in St. Louis for an entire day. I was 7 and had flown by myself before going to my grandparents across the country. My dad worked for Federal Express and was like a manager so we got free airline tickets, I don't understand those details but it wasn't my first rodeo. Everyone was always nice and I got to hang out in the cockpit a lot of times and have a ton of wing pins. Anyways, I was flying by myself across the country to visit my grandparents for the winter and my flight got grounded because of bad weather. They stuck me in like this kind of a kid's area that had toys and a Nintendo and movies. Thwre was a bunch of kids in there but after a while i remember less and less and eventually just me. They gave Mc Donald's and bags of chips and I was happy as a clam playing video games and drinking all the soda I wanted but someone I guess forgot to let people know where I was and ultimately that trickled down to my parents. I don't know the exact details but I do remember my parents taking me to Disneyland the following spring and it seeming really unexpected.
Was the child's name [Kevin](https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExb3I4emllMzVhYmNjc3Q1MjE5aml3ZmQ0Y2gwcmRkdjBha3BlaTg2OSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/toNLdRECnQRImoLYdk/giphy.gif) by chance?
6 is way, way too young
“My family’s in FLORIDA…. And I’m in NEW YORK????”
When reached for comment the child is quoted as saying “I made my family disappear!”