(Thomas Cook via AP)
An 8-year-old boy was left alone in a German airport after Condor Airlines failed to follow through with its unaccompanied minor program.
According to KARE11.com, 8-year-old Seeley Kunkel's parents bought him a ticket for $1760 on Condor Airlines, through the unaccompanied minor program which guarantees adult transport between terminals and gates, to visit his grandparents in Germany last weekend.
Kunkel was dropped off at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and was the first person on the plane. He was supposed to be accompanied by a Condor Airlines employees to his connecting flight to Hamburg when he landed in Frankfurt, but there was no one there to meet him when he landed.
Kunkel’s mother Jeana told KARE11.com that the boy left alone on the plane, and eventually left the aircraft by himself, following other passengers to a shuttle bus that took the group to the customs station in the terminal.
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Airport police found the boy and contacted his grandparents. The family informed authorities of the connecting flight to Frankfurt, and Kunkel was led to the next plane on his journey. The Condor Airlines flight from Hamburg landed safely in Frankfurt, and the boy was met by his grandparents.
Now, Kunkel’s mother wants to know what went wrong and filed a complaint with the airline.
“They pretty much said I have to submit my claim on the website and it could take weeks to hear from them,” Kunkel’s mother told KARE11.com.
“That made me angry that they didn’t see this as an immediate concern. He should have been told, 'I’m your personal attendant. I’m going to take care of you.' That’s what I expected to happen, not that somebody’s left in the plane.”
A spokeswoman for the airline told FoxNews.com that Condor is very sorry about the incident and has since apoligzed to the Kunkels and now looking to improve its minor program:
"The security and safety of our passengers is always our first priority. We recognize on this occasion that Seeley should not have been able to leave the aircraft unattended, and are extremely sorry about this and the distress caused to Seeley and his family. We have offered Seeley and his family our sincere apologies and reassured them that we are taking this matter very seriously, to understand what happened and take any steps that are necessary to make sure that it will not happen again."
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