A group of Florida kids wanted a vacation so badly, they were willing to take matters into their own hands to get it. Now their parents are steaming mad with the officials who let it happen, while an airline has a lot of explaining to do.
Fifteen-year-old Brigit Brown of Jacksonville, had been saving her babysitting money to buy a car. But one summer day she came up with the bright idea to do something different with her savings. Brigit, her eleven-year-old brother and their friend Bobby Nolan decided they would fly to Dollywood, an amusement park in eastern Tennessee, for an unforgettable time of their lives.
And so, with $700 in babysitting money, the group of youngsters took a cab to the airport, bought tickets at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter, passed through security and boarded a plane — all without their parents’ knowledge or consent. No one at Southwest Airlines or the Jacksonville International Airport thought 3 children buying airline tickets and traveling alone was out of the ordinary. “They didn’t question us,” Bobby said. “They just handed us the tickets and they signed off and we just went through.”
But it was only after they landed in Nashville that they realized they were in the wrong city, and nowhere near Dollywood. Panicked, they called their parents, who flew them back home. “They just told us to stay together and all. Don’t go apart,” Bobby said.
In response to the rather embarrassing situation, Southwest said it’s “unaccompanied minor policy covers children from ages 5 through 11 traveling alone. In this case, the 11-year-old customer was accompanied by two older companions.” But the parents are still in shock that their kids could pull off such a stunt, and that everyone from the airlines to TSA officials allowed it to happen.
