VANCOUVER – A family from Surrey contacted Global BC over the weekend, angry that their 12-year-old granddaughter was forced to wait, alone, at the Vancouver Airport (YVR), for a flight home.
Alyssa Murphy was visiting her grandparents for Christmas, but Saturday night, when they took her back to the airport for her Sunwing flight home to Toronto, they were told they weren’t allowed to wait with her past security.
Instead, Sunwing offered, for $50, to have a staff member escort her to her gate. Unfortunately, her plane was delayed almost seven hours and the family says her escort disappeared soon after she cleared security, leaving her alone all night.
“I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t,” said Alyssa on the phone from Ontario. “I tried to just relax, but I couldn’t because I was really scared that my stuff would get like, stolen. And so basically I couldn’t leave anywhere without it so I took it everywhere with me.”
Alyssa’s grandfather was asked if they could escort her to her flight, but was told by Sunwing representatives that YVR had changed the rules recently and they weren’t allowed to bring her in.
“We wanted to be able to go in, past security, to be able to sit with her at the gate,” said Alyssa’s grandfather Wes Sheldon. “She’s never flown before, it was her second flight really, the flight out here and the flight back, and we were told flat-out ‘no’ by the Sunwing representative.”
“And I said, ‘well why not, her mother was able to get in at the other end?’, and she said, ‘well, every airport’s different, and YVR said no.’ That the rules changed about a month ago and nobody was allowed to get past security,” added Sheldon.
Alyssa’s original flight was at 12:30 a.m., but it did not leave until almost 7 a.m. on Sunday.
READ MORE: Sunwing flight makes unexpected landing in Abbotsford after running low on fuel
A spokesperson for YVR said they do have programs that ensure minors are not left alone past security.
Sunwing is not part of the programs.
“There is an unescorted minor program that Sunwing has that would be between the airline and the passenger, so that’s what they have in place,” said Anne Murray, Vancouver Airport Authority Communications VP. “You really need to get into the details of the programs with the different airlines and each of them can speak to what their own program is.”
The airline would have to apply to Transport Canada for those passes and at YVR, Sunwing is not part of that program.
“When the airport authority was contacted directly, our employees went down to the gate to follow up on the child and at that point the child had already boarded the aircraft,” said Murray. “We were contacted directly by the family and we also followed up afterwards to ensure that they’d been safely reunited in Toronto.”
READ MORE: Why was a Sunwing flight, that had to divert, low on fuel?
Sheldon said Sunwing offered to refund their $50, which he said is beside the point. The family did not even know if their granddaughter made the proper flight until she landed in Toronto. They say simply, Sunwing needs a better system.
“They offered nothing, did nothing,” he said. “To offer the $50 fee back was, to be honest with me, insulting.”
Sunwing has issued a statement, saying:
“Sunwing Airlines was made aware of a situation involving a 12-year-old unaccompanied minor who travelled from Vancouver to Toronto on January 4, 2015.
We have since made contact with our ground crew in Vancouver who have informed us that during her wait in the airport, the 12-year-old passenger was assisted by a Sunwing representative throughout, who also helped her with redeeming her meal voucher. Our representative also informs us that the passenger was in regular contact with her family during this time.
“We have also since made contact with the family of the 12-year-old girl who informed us that their travel agent had advised them at the time of booking that their daughter was too old for our unaccompanied minor program (available to children aged between 5-11 years). When her daughter left Toronto airport on December 21, 2014 the mother was granted a complimentary gate pass in order that she could accompany her past security to the gate.
However, this does not appear to have been granted by the airport in Vancouver when the child’s grandmother brought her to the airport for her return flight. We can confirm, however, that our representatives looked after the 12-year-old passenger throughout her journey and she was escorted to meet her mother by a Sunwing representative upon arrival in Toronto yesterday.”
WATCH: Asa Rehman reports on Sunday, Jan. 4:
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