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    12-Year-Old Stranded at Airport After Delta Temporarily Bans Unaccompanied Minors From Flying

    By Inside Edition Staff,

    2024-07-24

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ujtwV_0ucCkmAJ00

    A 12-year-old boy finally made it home after being stranded at an airport amid the travel chaos caused by CrowdStrike's computer glitch.

    Ellis Harrison was stuck in Colorado for three days after Delta Airlines temporarily banned unaccompanied minors from flying.

    "I kinda did get worried," Harrison says.

    Harrison and his mother, Patricia Starek, spoke with Inside Edition.

    "First it was a pause, and then it was referred to as an embargo. We were like, 'What's happening,'" Starek says. "We became more and more concerned and more and more worried."

    The mother paid $650 for a JetBlue flight to get her son back to his home in Brooklyn .

    "My mom spent a lot of money and she bought me a new ticket," Harrison says.

    Delta says it temporarily paused its unaccompanied minors program because they did not want them to find themselves lost. Parents say the freeze came without warning and seems to have stressed out parents who were caught unaware.

    Redford Hewlett,17, was also stuck in Delta's freeze on unaccompanied minors.

    On Saturday Hewlett was stranded in Montreal . He then got an Air Canada flight to Las Vegas where he was picked up by his grandfather and driven two hours to St. George, Utah . After that, Hewlett took a six-hour bus ride near Salt Lake City to make it home.

    Melissa Watt has been trying to get her 12-year-old daughter Sarah home from a sleep-away camp in North Carolina since Saturday.

    "It was frustrating. I felt really helpless. I would call Delta and be on hold for several hours," Watt tells Inside Edition.

    Wednesday morning, Sarah finally boarded her Delta flight to Salt Lake City.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced an investigation into Delta's handling of the chaos.

    "I'm hearing a lot of things I'm very concerned about, including people being on hold for hours and hours trying to get a new flight, people having to sleep on airport floors, even reports of unaccompanied minors being stranded in airports, unable to get on a flight," Buttigieg said.

    Delta has previously said it is cooperating with the investigation. It also says that the children no fly embargo will be lifted today and all other problems caused by the CrowdStrike computer glitch will be resolved by Thursday.

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    Comments / 439
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    Sunshine21
    24d ago
    This is a shameful situation. If parents had abandoned their child, CPS would have been all over this, charging the parents with child abuse and neglect to put any child through something like this is horrible, especially at an airport with all types of crazy people wondering around the airport anything could have happened to this child could have gone missing, rape or murder, parents get together and send Delta a strong message sue their asses volunm speaks number. But don't let them get away with it.
    Richard Smart
    25d ago
    Stupid is as stupid does. Seems like a change in decision makers is due at Delta.
    View all comments
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