Zero Idea Where Kids Are: Frontier Defends Putting Kids In Hotel

This was the first year Jennifer Ignash and Chad Gray decided their children, 7- and 9-year-olds Etta and Carter, were old enough to fly home solo from a trip last month to see their grandparents in Iowa. The kids knew their addresses and their parents' phone numbers. But the parents say panic set in when Frontier Airlines booked their children and other unaccompanied minors in an Atlanta hotel after the flight from Des Moines to Orlando was diverted — Ignash says without properly notifying her and Gray.

The parents have hired a lawyer and may sue the airline. Ignash, who was waiting at the Orlando airport for the flight that never arrived just before 11 p.m. on the night of July 22, witnessed what she called "a madhouse" that ensued when multiple flights were delayed. The children's flight was diverted to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Ignash told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she called the Frontier customer service line to get information about her children, but didn't hear back until the following morning. By then, the parents already knew their children were safe, when one of the older unaccompanied minors let them use their cellphone to text and call.

That child was Nathan Schwab, a 14-year-old from suburban Des Moines who was flying to Orlando to spend time with his grandparents. His parents, Shannon and Jeb Schwab, were in the same nightmarish limbo of wondering where their child was and who he was with.

They knew, generally, that Nathan was headed to Atlanta, but only because Jeb Schwab saw on a flight tracking service that the plane had been diverted. It was an hour and 45 minutes before an airline employee confirmed that, Shannon Schwab told Patch.

Frontier disputes assertions it bypassed parents in the decision to put the kids up in a hotel. In a statement, the airline said its employees strictly followed airline policy and the parents were notified before the decision was made to book them in the hotel.

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The children were attended to at all times by a Frontier supervisor and given something to eat, and Frontier claims that its records show Etta and Carter "were in contact with their mother before being transported to the hotel and with their father the following morning before leaving on the continued flight."

"In keeping with Frontier policy, all parents were contacted. It is also policy for us to arrange hotel rooms for Unaccompanied Minors and for them to be supervised by a Frontier representative," Frontier said in a statement. "We understand that when something like an unexpected delay or diversion due to weather happens that it can be stressful for parents. We take the safety and security of all passengers seriously and Unaccompanied Minors are no exception."

The ages of the other children — counting Etta, Carter and Nathan, there were six unaccompanied minors on the flight — wasn't clear. They all stayed together in the same room with the Frontier employee.

Shannon Schwab said she’s proud of how her son helped the younger kids find their way amid the confusion. She noticed at the Des Moines airport as the kids were getting ready to board that they all had lanyards identifying them as unaccompanied minors, and quick introductions were made.

Nathan called his mother from a small room at the Atlanta airport, where he and the unaccompanied minors were waiting with an airline employee. Schwab said that person wasn’t a supervisor and only talked with her when Nathan pressed, saying “you guys aren’t doing your job and calling parents, and my mom wants to speak with someone now.”

Without Nathan’s assistance, "we would have had zero idea where our kids were," Ignash told the Journal-Constitution.

Gray told television station WALB the airline made the decision to book the children into a hotel around 2 a.m., about three hours after the plane was scheduled to land in Orlando. He said it was before he received the text message from Carter letting him know he and his sister were OK.

The kids were taken to the hotel by a Frontier employee in her personal vehicle without first getting their parents' approval, the parents told WSB-TV.

Essentially, the kids were put in a car with a stranger whose background and a host of other factors — like the person’s driving record — were unknown. Schwab said her understanding from the call with her son is that they would go to the airport in a shuttle, not a personal car.

It was Nathan’s first experience flying without an adult, too.

“He was nervous,” Schwab said, “but what gave him some peace was that he was able to speak with us and keep us in the know. He was worried we didn’t know what was going on, and that concerned him.”

"It was a bunch of circumstances that came into play all at the same time. I just don't think Frontier is prepared to handle all those at once," Gray told the Journal-Constitution. "You like to minimize the risk that your kids have and you want to protect them. And not having any control over the process whatsoever, I think, is really, really frustrating."

Atlanta aviation lawyer Alan Armstrong, who is representing the parents, told the newspaper doesn't think Frontier has clear procedures and that its employees "just make it up as they go along."

Armstrong, who is also a pilot, told WALB a series of missteps by the airline started with the decision to allow the flight to take off from Des Moines when there was already a ground stop in place in Orlando and ended with the transport of the children from the Atlanta airport around 4 in the morning.

"No one knew what to do," he said, claiming "negligence, poor communication, no communication, poor judgment by the pilot."

Schwab said the only thing she and her family want by speaking about the situation is more clear communication.

“I’m not here to cause trouble, but I do feel Frontier needs to be held accountable,” she told Patch. “If I’m paying $220 ($110 each way) for my minor to fly unaccompanied, I expect they should be with my child and contact the parents and let them know immediately what is happening, and not (leaving the responsibility with) some random person sitting in a room and babysitting them.”

Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images