A family who chose to let their children fly alone on a short flight home was furious when the flight plans changed and the airline failed to notify them.
Carter, age 9, and his seven-year-old sister Etta had taken numerous trips with their family before, but the first flight they took without their parents was a complete nightmare. It’s every parent’s worst fear come true, but the kids’ experience was far more complicated than anyone anticipated.
On the evening of July 22, 2018, the incident occurred. While returning from their grandparents’ house, Carter and Etta took a flight from Des Moines, Iowa, to Orlando, Florida.
Their mother waited for them at Orlando International Airport, but she never spoke to anyone from the airline while she waited or made her pickup arrangements. She had no idea that her children’s plane had been rerouted to Atlanta due to severe weather.
Carter and Etta’s parents were completely unaware until Carter was able to call his father, Chad, after midnight using the phone of another unaccompanied youngster.