A PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE: A flight from RDU took a chaotic turn for a 13 year old who landed in California alone. Douglas and Maria Davila say they paid @AlaskaAir an unaccompanied minor fee, but those services weren’t provided. Story tonight at 11 on #abc11. pic.twitter.com/Bpf3K1HsUw
The Alaska Airlines website claims that those who pay the $75 unaccompanied minor fee can trust their constant supervision. “Once you’ve handed your child over to our care, he or she will remain under supervision at all times,” the website reads.
While the airline refunded the $75 fee to Davila, they responded in a statement claiming Davila’s daughter actually was met by an Alaska Airlines employee at San Francisco International Airport. However, they say she was asked to wait during a delay due to a mechanical issue.
“Caring for a child flying alone, without a guardian, is our top priority. We view them as the most precious cargo. Our investigation, which includes specific records that tracked the movement of our young guest, indicates employees did meet her when her flight arrived and escorted her to our Service Center at San Francisco International Airport,” Alaska Airlines said in a statement sent to WDTV.
“Our guest was asked to wait with employees at the Service Center, as her connecting flight to Seattle was delayed for 1.3 hours due to a mechanical issue. While we had tabs on our young guest the entire time, we understand that she may have felt unsupervised in the crowded area and for that we are deeply sorry. We also think we could have done a better job communicating with her. Given her experience, we are carefully evaluating our chain of custody procedures for unaccompanied minors making connections through SFO and will strengthen processes to make sure our young guests feel safe and attended to at all times while they are in our care.”
According to WTVD, the family would like to receive a full refund for the flight, in addition to the refund for the unaccompanied minor fee.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A teenage girl from New Zealand sick with measles visited Disneyland and other popular tourist stops across Southern California earlier this month, possibly infecting others, local government health officials warned.
The alert comes amid the worst outbreak of measles in the United States in a quarter century, with more than 1,200 cases reported across 30 states since October 2018, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is looking to identify others who are at risk for measles and may have been exposed to a non-resident measles case that traveled to Los Angeles County while infectious,” the health department said in an advisory on Friday night.
FILE PHOTO: A vial of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is pictured at the International Community Health Services clinic in Seattle
The Orange County Health Care Agency said that the girl was in Southern California from Aug. 11 to Aug. 15.
During her stay in Southern California the girl visited the Universal Studios Theme Park and several destinations in Hollywood and Santa Monica, Los Angeles health officials said, adding that anyone who was also at those locations may be at risk of developing measles.
Orange County health officials said she visited Disneyland in Anaheim on Aug. 12 and stayed at the nearby Desert Palms Hotel. There was no information on her current condition.
So far in 2019 a total of 16 measles cases have been reported among Los Angeles County residents, and 11 infected people are known to have traveled through the county.
The CDC said earlier this week that there had been a 1.8% increase in the number of cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly virus in the United States between Aug. 8 and Aug. 15.
The disease was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, meaning there was no continuous transmission for at least a year. CDC officials say the United States risks losing its measles elimination status if the current outbreak, which began in October 2018 in New York state, continues until October 2019.
Measles, considered one of the most contagious viruses in the world, infects 90% of exposed people who have not been immunized, according to the Los Angeles County Health Department.
Symptoms of the virus, which can cause severe complications and even death, include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a characteristic rash which can appear up to three weeks following exposure.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
British Airways has accused its pilots of “destroying the travel plans of tens of thousands” after a union announced they are to stage a series of strikes and demand twice the pay of the average pilot.
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) said its members will walk out on September 9, 10 and 27.
The union said it put forward a number of packages during several days of talks at the conciliation service Acas that it believed would have resolved the dispute without a strike.
A statement said: “BA did not accept any of these packages, and it is clear following discussions with members over the last few days that BA’s most recent offer will not gain the support of anywhere near a majority of its pilots.”
The pay rise offered would give pilots a £20,000 rise over three years.
BA said: “It is completely unacceptable that Balpa is destroying the travel plans of tens of thousands of our customers with this unjustifiable strike action.”
In British Airways’ centenary year, this will be the first time its pilots will go on strike.
Balpa said the strikes were a “last resort and with enormous frustration at the way the business is now being run”.
A ballot in favour of industrial action is valid until January, and Balpa warned more strike dates may be announced if the row is not resolved.
Balpa said: “With a 93 per cent vote in favour of taking industrial action, and with no prospect of any further meaningful talks, we have no choice but to call this action.
“A day of strike action will cost BA around £40 million. Three days will cost in the region of £120 million.
“The gap between BA’s position and Balpa’s is about £5 million.
“Our proposal remains on the table should BA wish to reach agreement prior to strike action.
“British Airways is an extremely profitable and successful company, and pilots have been proud to play their part in that.
“In 2018 the company announced profits of £2 billion.
“Over recent years BA pilots have made sacrifice after sacrifice to assist the company, such as taking a pay cut, productivity increases, closing the final salary pension scheme, giving up annual leave days, a new rostering system and reducing flying pay.”
BA said in a statement: “We are extremely sorry that after many months of negotiations, based on a very fair offer, Balpa has decided on this reckless course of action.
“We are now making changes to our schedule. We will do everything we can to get as many people away on their journeys as possible.
“However, it is likely that many of our customers will not be able to travel and we will be offering refunds and re-bookings for passengers booked on cancelled flights.”
Flights on BA CityFlyer, SUN-AIR and Comair are not affected by the strikes.
BA said it was exploring options to supplement its fleet by using aircraft and crew from other airlines and working with its partner airlines to schedule larger aircraft.
It added: “Our proposed deal of 11.5 per cent over three years is very fair and well above the UK’s current rate of inflation, and by contrast to Balpa has been accepted by the members of the Unite and GMB trade unions, which represent nearly 90 per cent of all British Airways colleagues including engineers, cabin crew and ground staff.
“In addition to basic pay, pilots also receive annual pay increments and regular flying allowances.
“We continue to pursue every avenue to find a solution to avoid industrial action and protect our customers’ travel plans.”
BA chief executive Alex Cruz said the pilots had been offered an “incredible, inflation-busting deal” which would take a captain’s pay to over £200,000 a year.
He said they had been “very badly served” by their union.
He urged passengers to contact BA’s website as its call centres will be busy.
“Passengers will be contacted in the next 24 to 30 hours,” said Mr Cruz, adding he hoped talks could resume with Balpa as soon as possible.
BA has 4,311 pilots – 3,994 based at Heathrow and 317 at Gatwick. The company said 1,061 did not vote for industrial action.
Passengers, including “Dancing with the Stars” dancers, are furious with Delta after their flight from New York to Los Angeles was delayed multiple times — and no hotel vouchers were offered.
As the desperate search for two firefighters who disappeared during a fishing trip off the coast of Florida continues into its fourth day, the family confirmed that a bag located by civilian searchers did belong to one of the missing men.
Brian McCluney, a Jacksonville, Florida, firefighter, and Justin Walker, a member of the Fairfax, Virginia, fire department, were last seen on Friday launching a 22-foot fishing boat at Port Canaveral, near the Kennedy Space Center, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Sunday.
.@USCG crews are searching for 2 overdue boaters near #PortCanaveral. Brian McCluney and Justin Walker were last seen Friday and reported to be going to the 8A Reef. #HappeningNow#BreakingNews
A teenage boy nearly drowned when he was sucked into a drain at a Texas water park last weekend, media outlets report.
Now the 14-year-old is in a medically-induced coma, family members say.
Caden Strimple was at the Fun Town Water Park on the Bolivar Peninsula, located southeast of Houston, with a friend when he lifted an underwater grate and slipped into the drain, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset told KHOU. The friend saw Caden was under about three feet of water and noticed he couldn’t free himself, the Houston TV station reported.
Then a park employee shut down the pump, which allowed Caden to escape, according to KTRK. He was rushed to a hospital with “serious internal injuries,”Trochesset told KTRK.
I can confirm Dale, Amy & Isla along with his two pilots were involved in a crash in Bristol TN this afternoon. Everyone is safe and has been taken to the hospital for further evaluation. We have no further information at this time. Thank you for your understanding.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., his wife Amy and their daughter Isla were aboard a plane that ran off the end of the runway and caught fire at the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Municipal Airport on Thursday.
Barry Carrier, the Elizabethton fire chief, told WJHL that neither Earnhardt Jr. nor Amy were seriously injured in the crash. The Carter County Sheriff’s office told WCYB that there were no fatalities in the crash but that Earnhardt Jr. had been taken to the Johnson City Medical Center for minor injuries like cuts and abrasions.
The Dominican Republic resort where a Delaware woman claims she was brutally beaten and left for dead has temporarily closed due to low occupancy, according to Delaware Online.
Tammy Lawrence-Daley, 51, shared a now-viral Facebook post in May saying she had been attacked while staying at the Majestic Elegance Punta Cana resort in January.
The post, which included gruesome photos of Lawrence-Daley’s battered face, described an attack by an unknown man who she said choked her repeatedly, kicked her in the head and dragged her down a flight of stairs. Lawrence-Daley said the assault occurred while she was walking in a rotunda between two of the hotel’s buildings.
Now, Majestic Resorts is closing its Punta Cana hotel, saying it has lost thousands of visitors since numerous stories of American tourists dying or being injured while visiting the Dominican Republican began surfacing earlier this year.
A Utah teenager died on Monday after being hit by falling rocks while vacationing with her family at Glacier National Park in northwest Montana.
The family was riding in their vehicle at around 7 p.m. when multiple rocks came crashing down from a nearby mountain, landing on the vehicle’s roof and shattering the rear window, park officials said.
The 14-year-old girl died before she could make it the hospital.
“A.L.E.R.T. air ambulance responded, but was unable to airlift the girl because of her unstable condition,” the park said in a statement Tuesday. “Flight paramedics traveled with her via ground ambulance to Kalispell, MT. The girl died while being transported to a local hospital.”
A Miami woman is suing American Airlines, accusing a flight attendant of mistreating her and locking her emotional support dog in an airplane bathroom for an hour.
Avigail Diveroli, who claims she suffers from severe anxiety, said her “medically necessary comfort animal,” Simba, was quarantined in the bathroom during the last hour of an April flight from Miami to Los Angeles, according to the lawsuit.
At one point, the attendant, identified only as Regina in the suit, grabbed the kennel, with the dog inside, and started slamming it “with the door to the bathroom,” according to the lawsuit.
