Posted on 09/08/2001 5:59:28 AM PDT by billorites
• Rachel Hinkley, the Johnston girl put on a flight to Lansing, Mich., rather than to Rhode Island, is glad to be home.
JOHNSTON - The first inkling Rachel Hinkley had that something was wrong was when passengers were told to get ready for landing, just an hour into what she thought was a two-hour flight to T.F. Green Airport.
Once the plane was on the ground, Rachel was met by an airline agent and taken to a room to meet her parents.
"This isn't right," she thought. She saw only strangers.
Rachel, 16, of Central Avenue, was flying on Aug. 25 to Rhode Island from San Diego, after a two-week visit with an aunt. She was flying as an unattended minor, that is as a child who is escorted by airline personnel. But due to an apparent mixup in names, she was put on the wrong flight when making a connection in Chicago.
Instead of Warwick, she was sent to Lansing, Mich. She was staring at a couple who had come to pick up their 12-year-old daughter, Rachel Kurtz.
"I looked at the Kurtzes; I was in shock," Rachel Hinkley recalled yesterday. "I just didn't believe it." She had been put on the plane that was to fly Rachel Kurtz home.
"Her father was angry," Rachel Hinkley recalled yesterday. "Her mother was just freaking."
It was 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, and there was no flight to Rhode Island. The airline would have to put her up overnight in a hotel.
Fortunately for Rachel Kurtz, she got home that night.
For Rachel Hinkley, it was a night in a hotel room nearly 800 miles from home.
"I looked out and saw some lights, and an amusement park," she said. "But they wouldn't let me go out."
Rachel Hinkley's father, Douglas, was waiting at T.F. Green Airport when he got the news. He said United told him that his daughter had been "misdirected" and was in Michigan.
At home, his wife, Claire Hinkley, couldn't believe it.
"I thought it was a joke," she recalled yesterday. "I said don't tell me that."
But when she didn't see Rachel, she realized her husband wasn't joking.
"I got a little nervous," Claire Hinkley said. "I was thinking she was a little scared and confused; I was very relieved they were getting a hotel for her."
Rachel called home, twice. And she called again the next morning.
The calls can help ease, but not erase, a parent's worries. The child is away from home, being taken care of by strangers.
"You know they're United personnel, but you don't know them personally," Claire Hinkley said.
Rachel Hinkley, who had been scheduled to arrive in Warwick at 10:30 Saturday night, finally got to Rhode Island at 11:30 Sunday morning.
"My [six] brothers and sisters came to the airport to meet me," she said. "Rhode Island's a small state, but it looked good."
"I thought, 'It's finally over,' " her mother said. "Thank you, God."
Claire Hinkley said the airline has been in touch with the family several times since the incident. They are trying to determine exactly what happened.
But Claire Hinkley says it will be a while before she lets Rachel fly again.
Probably an honest mistake for a Customer Service Agent who had just graduated from a public high school with a 5th grade reading skill level.
She didn't see the gate signs in Chicago? They didn't announce their destination when they took off? Somehow I think there should have been a clue earlier, especially for a child this old.
That being said, I don't think I'd be putting my child on a cross-country flight alone.
Especially having to change planes. It's amazing that people are letting 12 year old children fly alone.
They'll blame the airlines but they were the neglectful parents who allowed a little girl to travel alone.
I started flying back and forth between saudi arabia and the united states three times a year when I was 13, clearing customs, getting my bags, etc.. Follow the signs, read the monitors, ask questions. Not very complicated.
The only reason a 16 year old needs to be escorted is that the law (presumably FAA regulations) requires it. It avoids a liability issue for the airlines. Anyone who is under 18 and flying unaccompanied requires 'special handling'.
Why a 16 year old would allow herself to be put on the wrong plane is the part that I have a hard time imagining.
Good grief is right.
Our daughter flew alone since she was 8, fully aware that things could go wrong, and prepared for contingencies.
Plus the awareness that it was up to her to be sure the flight she was being put aboard was the right one. She could read.
She flew dozens of times between the ages of 8 and 18 and never ended up in the wrong place.
I suspect there is more to this story than meets the eye.
The parents' main job is to give the kids wings. At 16 the job should be almost done.
Have you watched MTV lately?! (Have you watched _any_ TV lately?)
Have you been following the news about how many _teachers_ flunk basic skills tests?! The news about the bizarre programs kids suffer through in schools rather than education?! The news about the average skills level of kids graduating high school?!
(1) Is she retarded? Well, if she's an average 16 year old, the answer is probably Yes, she is functionally retarded.
(2) She's going ... to vote in two years! Yep. The democRATS are counting on this... Mark W.
It was the parents of the 12 year old girl who apparently expressed anger, they'll place all the blame on the airlines for not taking care of the kid they are responsible for, I would never send a 12 year old girl out to travel alone and then hold someone else responsible for her.
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