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The recent Frontier Airlines incident where their flight Frontier1756 from Des Moines to Orlando was diverted to Atlanta due to severe weather in Orlando. On board were a handful of children under 12 traveling under the airline’s “unaccompanied minor travel policy.” The late hour made it necessary to shelter the minors overnight in Atlanta, which Frontier did at a local Holiday Inn.

Parents of two of the children advise that the airline never contacted them, and their own attempts to learn about their children’s situation via the Frontier customer service line came up empty. They learned of their children’s situation when their children borrowed the cell phone of another child and called to update their parents.

The long and short of it, the children were accommodated at the unexpected stop in Atlanta. Connecting hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn were acquired and a Frontier employee transported and stayed with the group throughout the evening. The siblings (one boy, one girl) were not able to stay together (Frontier opting to separate the group of children by gender).

Frontier in a statement to the AJC, disputes the lack of communication between the children and their parents.

“the children were attended to at all times by a Frontier supervisor, placed in a hotel room overnight, and provided with food. Our records show that the children 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. We understand how an unexpected delay caused by weather can be stressful for a parent and our goal is to help passengers get to their destinations as quickly and safely as possible.”

What Frontier doesn’t say is whether that communication was at Frontier’s initiative or as the parents claim, only because one of the other children had a working cellphone that was borrowed. Frontier should have over communicated with the rightfully concerned parent.

Unaccompanied Minor Travel - Multiple teaching moments.

Stick to non-stop flights for your unaccompanied minor.
Diversions do happen, prepare your child for this possibility. Have them ask the airline’s assigned attendant to initiate a call to their parents/guardian.
Read the policy surrounding Unaccompanied Minor travelers for the airline they differ from one to another (see Frontier’s unaccompanied minor travel policy here, which doesn’t mention how they will handle a flight diversion.)