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Boston Logan Continental employees put unaccompanied minor on wrong flight
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That's horrendous
You might want to complain to Massport as well as to Continental and the FAA.
Reporting
I suspect that at least one person from the airline has already reported the incident to the FAA through official channels, though it wouldn't hurt for you to also contact the FAA. I can tell you that they take everything seriously, and have processes to learn from incidents and correct problems.
Disclosure: I have a related business interest. I am not involved in the processes, am not an expert on the processes, and am speaking only casually and as a private citizen.
Seriously?
@Ron: This is Jonathan we're talking about.. you think he needs tips on making complaints from the likes of us?
@Jonathan: good luck with it - if anyone can get them to rethink their procedures, you can.
Stunning security breach!
There is more to this than just the kid being on the wrong plane:
1. why did the scan of her boarding pass not raise an alarm? There was an adult intending to board another flight who got in line for the flight to boston from DFW last month. He was right in front of me, and wanted to be on a flight that had been switched to another gate. They scanned his boarding pass and BEEP BEEP BEEP, it gave them an error message that he didn't belong on the flight to Boston.
2. You are supposed to be confirmed to have been on the flight in which your luggage is checked. If she checked luggage to Cleveland and wasn't on that plane, then the FAA sure as hell will want to know about it! I have had planes held because somebody checked baggage and didn't make it to the gate.
3. Unaccompanied minors are supposed to be escorted by airline personnel and checked through at several points - simply unbelievable that every single check point failed! How the hell did she even have a seat on the wrong plane?
Sounds like a job for a media circus - good luck!
I wouldn't be suprised..
if the ticket was bought for Newark instead of Cleveland either.
Scanning boarding passes
would not have raised an alarm if two flights were boarding at the same time from a single gate.
Um, no
Two flights simultaneously from the same gate? At a major airport? Not likely post 9/11, according to my former flight attendent friend. (see the passengers must match luggage issue, above)
Two flights generally only board from the same gate in serial, not parallel. One after the other. Two planes can't physically be at the same gate at once, unless there is a split gate/jetway situation. I have seen a two-scanner situation on a split gate out of terminal A when flying Delta to RDU, but they kept the lines seperate all the way down the jetway. It should have raised an alarm.
What is more likely: she had an escort, so they didn't scan her boarding pass. Either that, or Continental doesn't check them electronically - which would surprise me.
No jetway here
This is a situation where you walk downstairs from the gate to the tarmac, then up stairs into the plane. I've been in this situation before, where someone on the tarmac had to tell me which of two planes to board. These are small regional jets.
Been there, done that ...
But they still kept the groups separated with the portable ropey thingies and double-checked the boarding passes at the door.
For security reasons, that is what they should do. They are supposed to document each and every person who boards. Maybe Continental (which I will not fly on for a number of reasons ...) just half-assed things as usual.
The ultimate expression of the tarmac boarding system has to be Jet Blue in and out of Long Beach, CA. Long Beach is a classic warm-weather airport and they use a very elaborate system of boarding tracks across the tarmac through a maze of rope barrier lanes to get the right people out to the right planes. (a guy on my flight had a pedometer app for his i-thing and he recorded a 1/3 mile walk to the Boston flight) They check boarding passes again at the plane to make sure you got it right, and direct you to the front or back door stairs according to seat number.
Bigger than boarding passes
There's a lot of accompanying paperwork that comes with an unaccompanied minor. The Newark flight should have noticed that none of it applied to them (and they shouldn't have been expecting an unaccompanied minor) and the Cleveland flight should have realized they didn't have the minor that went along with the paperwork that they were given.
None of that happened, which is truly baffling and should be gotten to the bottom of.
Typical Logan Security
Who is really that surprised by this?
Don't Blame Logan
This one is entirely on the airline. The girl's parents didn't pay Massport to escort her to her plane, they paid Incontinental Airlines to do it.
I stand corrected.
I stand corrected.
I was once put on the wrong
I was once put on the wrong plane as an unaccompanied minor too. I was about 12 and going from Detroit to Dallas, and realized what was happening as the plane was pushing back and the flight attendant announced that they were going nonstop to Austin. I jumped up and flagged another attendant down right away, told her they'd put me on the wrong plane, and they went back to the gate and let me off. I eventually found my way to the right plane.
How scary for this girl's parents, not being able to find her and having no idea what happened. I'd be enraged if I were them.