Oh baby
I AM READING the predeparture paperwork for my last flight of the day. Listed are the number of passengers, boarding and departure times, name of the agent working the flight, phone number to call if we need help or supplies. Special assistance passengers are listed with names and seat numbers. I see WHCR, three passengers requiring wheelchairs, and PETC, pet in cabin, indicating a passenger is flying with their 4-pound dog. We also have an unaccompanied minor, UNMR, a child traveling alone.
This child’s parents have paid extra for special treatment. The child must wear a red-striped wristband and is never out of the sight of a Delta employee. They are walked down to the airplane, introduced to the flight attendants, escorted to their seat, given extra attention, watched and guarded as carefully as if they were our own. At the end of the flight, the child is walked off the plane by a flight attendant and handed over to the gate agent. The person picking up the child must show photo ID matching the name on the paperwork that says TBMB, “to be met by.”
Next to the name of the unaccompanied minor on my paperwork this evening is an abbreviation that says INFT. I do a double take. This is the code for someone traveling with an infant or toddler under the age of two who sits on the parent’s lap instead of in a seat. Surely this is a typo, placing INFT next to UNMR on the paperwork. The final paperwork will correct this error. I shrug and head to the airplane to prepare for my passengers.
The gate agent comes down the jetway with our first passenger, a darling girl, fresh-faced, 15 years old. She is carrying a carseat with a baby in it. She is my unaccompanied minor and she is carrying HER baby.
The flight is not full that night so I get a chance to talk to her later. “How old is your baby?” I ask gently. “What is her name?” The baby is four months old and her name is McKenzie. “She’s beautiful,” I murmur. My young passenger is very attentive and loving towards her baby.
McKenzie’s grandmother is waiting at the gate for our flight once we land in Tampa. The woman signs the paperwork releasing her daughter and her granddaughter from Delta’s custody and off they go into the terminal.
My passenger was old enough to have a baby, but not old enough to fly alone.
