Aer Lingus's move to no longer accompany minors will affect 150 children a day, writes Sorcha Crowley
We all remember the ad - a fresh-faced young woman, with a picture-perfect smile beams down upon a little girl before leading her off by the hand. This was the guardian angel who took our children safely across thousands of miles. Once one of the biggest selling points of our national airline, she will shortly vanish into aviation mythology.
The recent Aer Lingus decision to cease providing a service to unaccompanied minors has left many families bewildered and many questions unanswered. Why remove this flagship service when the figures reveal huge support and regular customers? Aer Lingus has confirmed it takes an average of 150 unaccompanied minors - UMs as they're known within the industry - a day, amounting to 50,000 children a year.
The official line Aer Lingus is offering is that they "cannot guarantee their system of accompanying minors is 100 per cent risk-free". The airports are getting busier, they say, people abused the services, the children were kicking up - literally.
Aer Lingus doesn't ask for the circumstances surrounding the children but a spokeswoman says many come from separated families, with children travelling alone to visit a mother or father for the weekend or during the holidays. The majority of unaccompanied minors travel between Ireland, the UK and Amsterdam.
Transatlantic flights are very popular too with children of Irish ex-pats coming home to visit grandparents and extended family. European families are also sending children to Ireland on exchanges or to attend English language schools.
"We've had incidents where a child would arrive unaccompanied by taxi to the airport when our protocols clearly stipulate a named guardian of the child is supposed to deliver them to the airport and wait until the plane is in the air."
In 2002, says Aer Lingus, it had 23 cases where a child arrived either unaccompanied by his/her guardian, or the parent left the airport before the flight had departed. There were 20 incidences of nobody being at the destination to meet the child on arrival last year. When this happens, they must call the parents or appointed guardian, often having to arrange transport for the children to their no-show guardians. They had a total of eight incidences of unappointed people arriving to collect a child last year. This is regarded as more serious and ground staff have to then establish the relationship the unappointed person has with the child and won't release the child into their care without the permission of the child's parents.
Mother of two Mrs Sheelagh O'Gara from Bundoran, Co.Donegal had no hesitation about using the service several times when her daughters were minors flying to France.
"At the time I couldn't go over with them. Myself and my husband were both at work. I would have had to fly over with them at extra expense. It was very convenient for us".
She disagrees vehemently with the idea that some parents abused the service. "You weren't just parking your kids with Aer Lingus. There wasn't a laissez-faire attitude with parents at all. Once all the paperwork was signed everything my end was no problem. The children were very happy and very well treated throughout the journey. I was never once concerned about their security. Aer Lingus has the best safety record and I like their caring attitude towards younger children."
"There is a balance of risk," says the Aer Lingus spokeswoman. "There are cases now of children being interfered with or abused. Airports are very congested areas and we didn't feel we could give 100 per cent assurance that our system was risk-proof," she adds.
So far, however, the system seems to be working fine. When booking a ticket for an unaccompanied child, parents must supply names, addresses and details of the person delivering the child to the airport and the person picking up the child at the destination.
At check-in, children are given a documentation pouch containing their passport, family details and a document which the parent signs agreeing that they have handed over that particular child to the check-in agent.
From here the child is accompanied at all times, with the form in the pouch signed by agents handing over and receiving the child, from boarding the plane until the guardian appointed to collect the child signs the final signature to say they have safely collected the child from ground staff.
Orlaith O'Friel is a former member of Aer Lingus ground staff who used to deal with UMs on a regular basis. She can understand why they are doing away with the service. "There were usually only two of us on the arrivals desk, sometimes only one. I've had up to 20 unaccompanied minors standing around me, waiting to be picked up, all speaking different languages and getting giddy and unruly when they're all together. If I was called out to the floor I'd have to either drag them with me or leave them behind the desk. It was just too risky."
People are often not there to pick up the child for the most innocent of reasons. "I can recall a wee girl of six or seven years who arrived on a transatlantic flight early one morning with nobody there for her. Her granny was coming down from Northern Ireland and rang to say bad weather was holding her up. That wee girl was waiting for another four or five hours on her own after a long flight from the USA."
So what are the dangers for unaccompanied minors if Aer Lingus continues its services? A former flight attendant with Euroceltic Airways is convinced they are minimal. "To be honest, the only thing they might be in danger of is a lack of attention from the cabin crew on busy flights, but of course they'd be looked after very carefully at all times," she said. On larger flights such as those on the 737 aircraft, resources of low-cost airline cabin crew may be stretched with just three flight attendants looking after 160 passengers.
Other Euroceltic Airways staff, who also worked as cabin crew with Aer Lingus, say they regularly dealt with troublesome UMs. "It could be a nightmare, with emotional scenes when young children are leaving one parent or grandparent." Grounded aircraft can be difficult for children on connecting flights from London to Dublin. "Same-sex check-in agents must stay with the children overnight, which isn't always possible," says one source.
Aer Arann offers the service to unaccompanied minors, but a spokeswoman says they "rarely" encounter problems.
Meanwhile at Aer Lingus, children whose parents can't afford the price of a plane ticket to travel with them will lose out on contact with loved ones. For others, it means an added inconvenience and hardship. In the case of children of separated parents, says O'Friel, "Daddy will have to stay in a hotel or come to an amicable arrangement".