I have major trust issues.
And by major I mean I really don’t trust anyone.
That goes triple when my child is involved.
Make that quintuple.
Let’s just say I am not the type of parent, who would drop off my 9-year-old kid at a municipal pool with five bucks for lunch and head to work for 8 hours, hoping that the lifeguards or other adults will make sure he’s alive and well by the time I return.
For many parents, entrusting their flesh and blood to others is not a task they take lightly.
And, no, I don’t buy into the psycho mumbo-jumbo about people with trust issues not being trustworthy themselves. Personally, my issues don’t stem from deep-seated hatred for my fellow man; rather, they’re derived from people who drop the ball when they shouldn’t.
Case in point: United Airlines temporarily “losing” a 10-year-old passenger.
Did you hear about this epic fail?
Earlier this summer, Annie and Perry Klebahn paid United Airlines to make sure their daughter Phoebe would arrive safely in Michigan from California in time for her first day of summer camp.
The girl departed from San Francisco and landed in Chicago where a United Airlines’ representative was supposed to meet her at the gate and escort her to a connecting flight to Traverse City.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
According to NBC News, not only did no one show up to meet Phoebe and walk her to her connecting flight, when the girl asked United attendants for help, they ignored her.
A letter the Klebahns wrote to United following the incident has gone viral, allowing the entire world to see how much the airline failed to do its job.
“When [Phoebe] missed the flight she asked if someone had called camp to make sure they knew and they told her ‘yes—we will take care of it,'” the Klebahns wrote in the letter. “No one did. She was sad and scared and no one helped.”
It took four hours and countless phone calls by Phoebe’s irate parents to finally get someone to help their daughter get to her final destination.
NBC News reports that the Klebhans were eventually told by United that it outsources its unaccompanied minor services to a third-party vendor, who, in this case, “forgot to show up.”
Way to own your mistake, United.
And you wonder why some parents have trust issues.
Would you ever allow your young child to fly solo?
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