Teenager buys one-way ticket to a nightmare

Source: Juneau Empire

Teenager buys one-way ticket to a nightmare
Loophole allows youth to fly without parents' permission

ERIC MORRISON, JUNEAU EMPIRE

Early Wednesday morning Elise Pringle awoke to find her daughter missing. Her nightmare had only just begun.

Pringle's daughter, 15, had purchased a $733 one-way ticket with cash at the Juneau International Airport without parental consent. Nearly a week later, the girl was able to board a plane to Seattle without identification in an attempt to begin a new life in North Carolina with a boyfriend she met on the Internet.

(snip)

Pringle's ordeal was still only beginning after she learned her daughter had purchased a ticket and was trying to leave town. Family members arrived at the airport trying to stop her from leaving only to be told they were not authorized to access any of the girl's flight information, she said.

"They knew my daughter was on that plane but they would not remove my daughter from that plane," she said. "I did not authorize my daughter to leave Juneau."

(snip)

Read more: http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/081907/loc_20070819025.shtml

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And this in spite of the fact that Mr. Pringle is a retired Juneau police officer and part-time U. S. Marshall.

If ID is not required for passengers between the ages of 13 and 17, which is apparently what is allowed by law now, this is a GIANT security hole for air travel.

And since when are ANY minor children allowed to purchase tickets or board flights without the permission of a parent or guardian? IMHO both TSA and Alaska Airlines need to come up with some new rules and procedures RIGHT NOW.

You do have to wonder, however, why a retired cop didn't spend a little time checking out his daughter's computer once in a while. Whattya bet the slimeball "boyfriend" on the other end got a real wakeup call after Mr. Pringle called the local police back there in NC...

Folks should read the entire story. The parents had the daughter arrested and sent to a juvenile facility.

That girl had no real idea who she was flying to 'start her life with'. There's no telling what could have happened to her had she made it to NC.

It's crazy that a minor can get on a plane like that with no id or without a parent. What with all the new anti-terror stuff going on at the airports, you'd think that wouldn't be possible.

at the very least- I'd bet a week's paycheck that there's more going on here than meets the eye.

the story doesn't ring true....not AT ALL.

The daughter was supposed to be going on a trip with the school band but spent spring break in another state with some guy she "met" on the internet. You know that cliche, "It can happen in the best of families"? It's true.

last night. United's policy is anyone over the age of 12 can fly unaccompanied and do not have to be picked up by an adult at the gate. Once they're off the plane, they are not the responsibility of the airline. This was made quite clear to us last night.

The airlines vary in their rules, but all of them will at least require documentation from parents or guardians - so there must be more to this story than reported.

homes their kids don't want to run away from.

:sarcasm:

My kids couldn't wait to get out on their own -- No, I take that back. They could and did wait until it was feasible and sensible. As eager as they were to be independent, they had enough sense to know they were safe, loved, taken care of, and respected at home. They weren't bullied or threatened.

Maybe, just maybe, Ms. Pringle needs to find out WHY her 15-year-old daughter was so eager to head for North Carolina to be with a boyfriend she'd probably never met???????????????????? Yah think?????????????????????



Tansy Gold

stupid and dangerous.. .I know, I was one once.

Fifteen, that is, but not really stupid nor dangerous. And I still have the same boyfriend, too.

That's why I put the :sarcasm: thing there -- Ms. Pringle wants laws about kids flying alone (not necessarily a bad idea) but laws aren't going to solve all her problems, certainly not laws requiring people to be good parents. I just think that most parents whose child has run away under these circumstances would first of all be so glad they got the kid back safely they wouldn't think about having the child arrested and put in juvenile detention. So I'm thinking there's a whole lot more to this story than was printed, like maybe this isn't the first time the kid has done something wacko???

It's easy to blame parents when you don't know all the facts.

I have one daughter who pushed the limits every step of the way and ran away at 15, putting us through hell. She is now an adult, a wonderful mother, and one of my best friends. My other daughter was an honor student who gave me almost no trouble at all--there was an eye-rolling incident once that ticked me off, but that's about it--and she is also a wonderful mother and is my other best friend. Same parents, same house, same rules, same love. My younger daughter just was in a hurry to grow up and there was no stopping her from making her own choices short of an ankle bracelet to the floor of her room.

I will never, ever again judge parents by the actions of their children. You love your kids and teach your kids, and set the best example you can, but what they do with it is up to them.

note: My 21-year-old son is in no hurry at all to move out and my youngest is still in high school. The jury is still out, but they are shaping up to be great adults, too.

parented well, are going to take off anytime soon now, thru no fault of the parents. Some kids are just too full of themselves, too dumb to know better, or too something. The parents are at their wits' end, and the outcome will prob not be good, even if they can keep the kid in the home til she's 18. Neither of the girls seems to have a lick of sense.

The article really doesn't say.

It also sounds to me like the parents did NOT actually report her as a "runaway" and as a result the child was really kind of in some sort of legal limbo between being emancipated and a fugitive (of sorts.) I was always under the impression that kids under 16 are considered "minors" and subject to a guardian's control at all times. Is that NOT the case?

I'd THINK the father would have realized at the time that they needed to report her as a runaway--especially since he's been associated with law enforcement. I don't think they can argue that they didn't want the girl to have any sort of "record" since they have signed her into juvvie, so WHY did they not report her as a runaway?

A very odd story, but also a pretty creepy one...



Laura

over 18 (at the very least). The article doesn't say how old the boyfriend is. If he is 15, then what is he going to get in trouble for? He would also be a minor. As for parents not reporting the girl as a runaway, sounds like all of this was happening very quickly, and they were actively trying to get the girl off the plane and back home. Maybe they didn't have enough time to report her as a runway, or didn't figure out they had to do it in time.

As a child, I often purchased tickets and flew alone.

Same with taxis, buses, car services in the city, ferries across the Sound, etc.

What's the difference?

I fail to see how this girl deserves any detention facility time. All she did was travel- away from what seems to be an obsessively controlling father. Kudos.

Hope she gets away next time.

I think that's why they turned her in, not for running away.
As for getting away "next time." She is only 15. Running away from home might not end up so well for her the "next time."

or obtain contraceptives without parental permission, then some folks would have no problem with this.

Why is parental consent such a big issue with regard to reproduction, but a loophole like this doesn't seem to bother anyone?

need to press ENTER once only...

$100 let alone over $700. I guess everyone, everywhere is supposed to baby-sit teenagers to make sure they are not trying to go AWOL. Don't the airport/airline employees have enough to do without having to speculate that the money used to pay for the ticket was stolen and the teenager is running away? Something just doesn't ring true in this tale, as others have pointed out. I don't think we need more laws "to keep our kids safe". I think we need more communication between parents and children and maybe more supervision. If the Internet is such a danger to vulnerable type teens, get rid of it or keep it in a locked space where you have the only key.

After every payday and bill-payment, I pull "emergency" cash to keep at home, generally around $200 to cover anything that might come up between paydays. Unfortunately, it's usually spent by the end of the first week, but that's what happens when there are two people who have lots of doctors appointments and meds. I have an ATM/debt card with overdraft, which I don't like to use.
If our 15 year old decided she wanted to cause a lot of trouble in a 2 or three hour period, all she needs to do is get into my purse or the lock-box I keep the emergency cash in as well as snagging my wallet with the debt card. I don't know if she remembers my pin number, but she certainly tries to sneak peeks occasionally if she's with me shopping.
And she's got so little self control, no matter what we've done to try and teach her otherwise, that it's not beyond possibility that she may just decide to buy a ticket and run away to her mom or someone else she met on the internet because she's pissed at us for grounding her. She's already run away to friends in the neighborhood because we wouldn't let her do something stupid ("It's not faaaiiiir - I hate you both, I'll show you!"), that's the next step - stealing money and disappearing, because in her adolescent mind, she knows what's best for her, anyone who tells her what she wants to hear obviously loves her better than we do, and she should be able to do anything she wants and just get anything she wants.

Haele

imagine having your pocket picked in paris (happens every damn day) and you cannot re-enter the usa for weeks, maybe months, while awaiting new documents, thus losing your job and perhaps your life savings because of the high cost of living in hotels for that long, merely because your pocket was picked

anyone, not just teens, but adults, can fly without ID if they are willing to be subjected to a secondary screen, extra pat-down, puffer, extra searching of their items, etc

a little thought will show that it HAS to be this way

it is too bad the parent made life so unhappy for the teen that she chose to run away, or that the teen is so mentally ill she chose to run away, but the TSA and the airline are in the job of screening to stop people from blowing up the plane, not in the job of forcing runaway kids to hitchhike (read suck dick to get out of the house, far more dangerous than buying a ticket and flying if you ask me)

i'm sorry this family is having a hard time

stopping people from being able to fly without ID is not the answer to this problem, maybe better parenting would have answered the question

the parent would be just as unhappy -- more unhappy -- if the teen had hitchhiked across alaska, canada, and through the lower 48 states to meet her BF by trading sexual favors w. lowlife guys

Why, that's not the kind of knee jerk reponse we're looking for! Get with the program. Seriously though, I'm glad for the most part DU is free of these useless items. In fact, what would the OP like? For everyone to write their officials to request more draconian requirements to travel freely? Geez!

database of ID information that could be called up by giving our name and address, whereupon TSA officials can retrieve ID info for us and generate a temporary ID.

You can do it at Costco, so why not in airports?

so anyone who had ever met me and anyone who had ever owned a phone book would be able to get my temporary ID

er, yeah, that'd sure work! not...

We live in a world where some things have slipped beyond our control. Until things change, we have to make use of technology the best way we can.

this person suggested that anyone who knows my name/address should be able to say they're me and get a temp ID at the airport

hello, common sense

there should not be any ID check at airport, instead, people should be checked for potential weapons, ID should be a private matter as it doesn't impair or impact on function of the plane

This from someone at TSA. It helps if you keep your boarding passes. There would be extra scrutiny at security but if you get your pocket picked in Paris or somewhere, I presume the same rules still apply, especially since most intelligent people keep their passports in their hotel rooms or in the safe so if they lose their wallet, they still have ID to go through customs.

you say most intelligent people keep their passports in their hotel rooms or in the safe so if they lose their wallet, they still have ID to go through customs.

the problem w. travel in europe specifically is that many, many hotels request to see your passport when you check in, i've encountered this in africa also, so there is a time of vulnerability when your passport is neither in your hotel safe (and of course many hotels don't have safes, the majority do not as a matter of fact in my experience) and yet it can't be strapped under your clothes as it usually is because you need it out and accessible to check into your lodging

intelligent people therefore get their passports stolen too

fortunately you can board the plane w.out ID, subject to additional scrutiny and secondary screening, or a lot of people would be stranded in a lot of places, in fact, i've known people personally to fly without ID

If you always have color photocopies of your passport hidden in various places in your luggage or on your person, you can avoid most of the problems associated with a lost or stolen passport.

Here in Venezuela, where I am now living, many establishments, not just hotels, want to see your passport. Even the local laundry wanted my passport number to comply with strict tax recording requirements here. I have two color, laminated copies of my passport, which most everyone accepts. I only need to take the original out of house when the original is required by some government offices.

The Norwegian woman who gave me the idea of laminating a copy of my passport had been on the beach in Thailand when the huge tsunami hit a few years ago. She was pushed a kilometer back into a copra plantation. When a second way hit, all the trees crashed down, breaking her leg and injuring many other parts of her body. She fell unconscious. Her rescuers knew to call the her embassy because they found the laminated copy of her passport in her jeans. Had it been the original, it would have been soaked and might not have been readable.

So, never hurts to be prepared for any eventuality. Laminate your copy of your passport.

a laminated copy of a passport is b.s. in this modern world, no offense

even w. my limited photoshop skills, i could print out and home laminate a "passport" that says whatever i like

...really, I know people who have done so, and at different airports (states so far: Hawaii, California, Nevada). All that happens is, they have to go through a special security line when heading for the departure gate.

And the funny thing is, they get through the special line faster than the folk who came equipped with IDs.

The other funny thing? It's harder to get on a Greyhound or Amtrak without ID. They *are* willing to take prison ID in lieu of "real" ID, though, in deference to people who have just gotten out and need to get somewhere.

Weird, but true.

required some time at the embassy, a couple of days' trouble. They do have ways of handling things like this.

in cash over what I assume is a short period of time from her parents? sounds odd to me.

If the kid didn't have a history or stealing, then it very likely her parents perhaps let her use it on occasion. I know when I was a teenager my parents would ask if I could run down to the store and pick something up, and they would just give me the ATM card.