NV Flyer tells the story of Edwards v. Southwest Airlines Co. (S.D. Ohio Jan. 28, 2020), a case about a 14 year old boy who flew Southwest Airlines without his father’s permission.
Southwest got the case tossed, successfully arguing that the Airline Deregulation Act precludes a lawsuit under Ohio state law for actions arising out of its ticketing, check-in and boarding activities. The father had unsuccessfully argued that his claims were directed at the safety of unaccompanied minors on Southwest flights and not the airline’s services covered by the Act.
The conniving 14 year old gets short shrift in all of the legal maneuvering. He was being watched by his grandfather and “asked his grandfather to go to Starbucks to get him a Frappuccino.” While the grandfather was gone the boy went to the airport. He was apparently in league with him mom who bought him a ticket to New Orleans. The father, alerted to the plan, called the police and drove to the airport before the flight took off. Southwest let the boy travel.
The father behaved badly, was arrested, and spent a night in jail. He’s arguing that Southwest had an obligation to confirm his permission (and not just the boy’s mother’s) to fly. However it isn’t only frequent flyers unable to sue airline loyalty programs under state contract law, thanks to the Airline Deregulation Act’s preemption provisions. It’s dads whose kids fly without permission, too.
Click bait. The boy did have permission from his other legal guardian.
dear @daddy I just thought it was an interesting case, and an interesting application of the airline deregulation act. ymmv, of course!
who had primary custody and is it the airline’s obligation to verify that?
What if the child/teen was being kidnapped by the other parent who might not have full custody?
@gary
It would have been far less click baity to add “when mom bought ticket” to the head line. I probably wouldn’t have clicked on that.
ymmv of course!
I hear French Bee and Alaska hooked up but no one is covering this. Can you look into it?
I have to say the title had me in expectation of a young “Evil Genius” AvGeek until I read about his Mum’s involvement.
It’s comical though, “Hey Gramps, I want an Orange Mocha Frappuccino, can you get that for me?”
Kid says, “Sayonara suckaaa!”
I thought the conspiracy element only made the story more interesting.
But is there a paragraph missing? What was the father arrested for?
French Bee and Alaska only signed an interline agreement. No codeshares or FF partnership (yet?).
https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/frenchbee-inks-interline-agreement-with-alaska-airlines/
I read you constantly and this article falls far short of your normal fare. Missing so many parts of the story. Sounds like a custody battle of some sort? Was father arrested? Why, when and for what? How did this kid get to the airport? Why was it a secret? Would love to see the rest of the story.
@Robert. Really? Think about it. Do you think kids have Parents Passports? How would an airline verify who had primary custody? Which court would the airline check to see who had it? State where mom lived? State where dad lived? Which county in that state? What if there is a modification in another state?
@VX_Flier Who has full Custody? Well that is for the parent with Custody to have a sheriff to enforce.
FYI the mother was not on the plane with the kid so it was not kidnapping since the kid was now a run away.
Well yesterday my daughter who is 15 just ran away got on a plane from North Carolina to Washington State but her first lay over was in Los Vegas she did it with no ID friends dropped her off her boyfriend got ticket on line I didn’t agree to shit how is this possible me and her dad. Don’t understand but they talk about making flying safe but my child can get on plane with no documents