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Mom frustrated by airline after teenage daughter's flight gets diverted

By
Updated  June 21, 2023 12:10am EDT
Orange County
FOX 35 Orlando

Mom upset after daughter's flight diverted

A mother said her 13-year-old daughter is still without her luggage after a flight that turned into a nightmare. She believes it all came down to a lack of communication.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A mother said her 13-year-old daughter is still without her luggage after a flight that turned into a nightmare.  She believes it all came down to a lack of communication.

"She was very scared when she arrived in Orlando and didn’t know where she was going to stay," explained Allison Siegel.

She said her daughter, Abby, was heading to a mission trip in Costa Rica by herself, when her connecting flight to Miami was diverted to Orlando, because of bad weather. 

She said the American Airlines flight sat on the tarmac for hours. 

"After seven-and-a-half hours, they decided they couldn’t take off."  

Abby wasn’t the only passenger who got stuck. Hundreds of other passengers from different airlines were also affected.  Leslie Schlotfeld said, "I feel like I'm being held hostage on a plane. I mean, the airports right there. If you can't get a gate, bring a mobile stairway out, something, you know, to get us off this plane." 

Airport officials said that because of severe weather, 39 flights were diverted into MCO on Monday, leaving many planes full of passengers waiting on the tarmac to get off. By the time Abby was able to deplane, Allison said it was extremely late and no one from American Airlines would communicate with her. 

"When they got to the terminal at 12:30 a.m., there was no place left to eat. She wasn’t sure where she was going, and the communication was very, very bad." 

She said a man finally took Abby and six other minors to baggage claim. 

"That’s where they stayed for the rest of the night, sitting on the baggage claim floor.  Seven unaccompanied minors didn’t have anywhere to lay, didn’t have any food to eat."

At around 5 a.m., she said Abby was booked onto another flight which took off without her luggage.  Her Apple AirTag showed it was still in Orlando late Tuesday.

An American Airlines spokesperson said they are working on getting Abby's luggage back to her and are in touch with her mom. They released the statement below:

"Yesterday’s weather in Miami (MIA) caused significant disruption to our operation, including three ramp closures that resulted in no arrivals to or departures from MIA for nearly three hours. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans and apologize for the disruption caused by this severe weather. A member of our team is reaching out to the customer’s mother to learn more about this experience."

They added that they were working to deliver the customer’s delayed bag and said it is policy to keep unaccompanied minors in the care of our team members.

"She’s pretty upset about not having her bag," Allison said. "I’m just super frustrated. I just want her to get her bag and go on with her trip until that happens, I have a very unsettled feeling." 

An airport spokesperson said there were 23 cancelations and 425 delays on Tuesday. She said that, because of lightning, workers can't load and unload luggage, and it adds to the delays. She reminds everyone to have patience flying during the summer months.