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Post by elaine on May 4, 2017 11:44:35 GMT
that they paid for and put their child in his car seat in. Stranded the family in Hawaii overnight. Good Morning America just had a story yesterday about how much safer it is to put your child in their own seat in their car seat. Now this. Airlines have gone way. too. far. link to story
eta: the worst part being telling the father that they will send him and his wife to jail if they don't get off the plane and that their children will taken away from them.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
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Jun 25, 2014 23:13:23 GMT
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Post by Nanner on May 4, 2017 11:57:40 GMT
What the hell is going on with these airlines? They need a complete overhaul
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sweetpeasmom
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Posts: 2,613
Jun 27, 2014 14:04:01 GMT
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Post by sweetpeasmom on May 4, 2017 11:58:07 GMT
Simple answer. STOP OVERBOOKING FLIGHTS!
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amom23
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Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on May 4, 2017 12:04:56 GMT
This story should be getting more coverage. The airlines will keep overbooking and kicking people off as long as they keep getting away with it.
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Post by bigbundt on May 4, 2017 12:12:05 GMT
The ticket in question was their 18 year old son's. He decided to take an earlier flight home so they used his ticket for one of the younger kids who were originally going to be lap babies.
Can you transfer tickets from one person to another like that? I'm guessing you could if it was done through the airline (probably incurring a fee) but I can't tell from the article if that is what this family did or not.
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Post by jamielynn on May 4, 2017 12:19:46 GMT
I need more info on this one.
We we always fly with our child in a booked seat in a car seat. On a few occasions when the flight looked empty and seat fare was high we gambled, and got an empty seat at no cost that we happily were given for the airplane approved car seat.
When they moved their teen child to a different flight, did they pay a fee ($200?) to change the older child's seat/flight? Or did they book a completely different full fare for the other child?
That is a big difference. If they paid a change fee this no longer was their seat. This was a seat they changed to another flight that the airlines could now use/sell to another passenger.
If if you could pay a minimal change fee, esp for an expensive flight to Hawaii, then retain the seat that's a trick every family would do and that's not okay.
If they were refused the use of a car seat, was it an airline approved car seat which the FAA requires? They are clearly marked and we have seen many families notified on flights over the years that their child couldn't ride in the car seat they had as it wasn't an airline approved seat.
I am waiting on more information on this one. If they still paid the full cost of the seat, and it was resold that's definitely the airlines in the wrong. If their car seat was approved and again refused again the airline is in the wrong.
i tend to wonder if the airline had no way of knowing when the teen didn't check in that he was with the family and that point the seat was resold. I do know the seats are non-transferable but if the story looks as it is on appear that is wrong and they should be able to use what was paid in full for (if they did pay in full for it).
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Post by jamielynn on May 4, 2017 12:20:29 GMT
The ticket in question was their 18 year old son's. He decided to take an earlier flight home so they used his ticket for one of the younger kids who were originally going to be lap babies. Can you transfer tickets from one person to another like that? I'm guessing you could if it was done through the airline (probably incurring a fee) but I can't tell from the article if that is what this family did or not. As a frequent flyer I'm almost positive (we fly delta a lot) you can't transfer names.
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Post by bigbundt on May 4, 2017 12:20:41 GMT
Don't need ID for the baby? I don't know, I've never showed any sort of ID for them when flying with my kids.
If they tried to just use the ticket without transferring, that is on them. If they transferred the ticket to the baby, then they had a right to the seat.
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Post by lisacharlotte on May 4, 2017 12:26:56 GMT
I think most airline tickets are non transferable. That was put in place to stop scalpers from buying up the cheap seats and reselling them, preventing the airlines from their daily (hourly!) price fluctuations.
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Post by melanell on May 4, 2017 12:31:10 GMT
This story is not as cold, cut, and dry as the last one---to me. Now, to start off, I'm going to say that Delta acted badly in threatening jail to these people. And in not offering them any compensation as well. WTH? Wasn't it just Delta who was in the article for being the airline that supposedly had the very best way of handling overbooked flights? What happened here, then??
Now, in this case, I didn't think plane tickets were transferable. And so I'm not sure that the family was even within their rights as the purchasers of that ticket to decide to plop a younger kid in the seat. And if they were in the wrong about that then I think Delta did have the right to say :Hey, we're sorry, but this seat was for John Doe and John Doe didn't turn up, so we can now fill this seat as we wish."
And I can't even be as angry on behalf of the parents for being forced to lap seat the kids as I would have been, because they intended to do that all along. The flew out there with the kids on their laps and were going to fly back that way. But then decided, ooh, look, an empty seat---now we can share lap duty with one kid instead of holding two.
If they had purchased seats for both kids from the beginning and someone tried to make them hold the kids, I would have been pissed off on their behalf. But in this case, I can't help but think that they should have at least made a phone call or asked someone upon arrival if they could use their older son's unused ticket in that way.
But, back to Delta not handling this well......how do you let this family get on the plane with two toddlers and a car seat, get settled, and THEN realize "Oh, oops, they can't have that seat after all."? Come on folks, get with the program. If that ticket was set up for an adult and it's not transferable, then someone should have noticed, right?
So, yeah, this situation is murkier to me, but ultimately I feel that both sides should have done things differently.
I do feel bad that the family was stuck in the end with no ride home and no where to stay. I'm just not sure that they didn't have something to do with this situation falling apart, though.
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Deleted
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Jul 2, 2024 2:54:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2017 14:16:46 GMT
I'm with the other posters on here. I also can't be clear at what has gone on here. I will say though that whatever happened and why, they shouldn't have been threatened with jail.
So they bought three tickets which included one for their 18 year old son . The son decided to take an earlier flight....did he use the original ticket for this earlier flight, therefore leaving the dad with just the two tickets for him and his wife or did the son purchase a new one which would then make the original ticket a spare which the dad chose to use for the baby seat?
If the first happened and the son didn't purchase a new ticket for his earlier flight but transferred the original ticket to his new flight then the seat would be spare and up for seating another passenger in it and the dad had no right to use that seat for the baby seat. Well that's the way I see it but it doesn't make it that clear in the report if the son paid for a new ticket for his earlier flight.
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Post by annabella on May 4, 2017 14:20:10 GMT
The ticket in question was their 18 year old son's. He decided to take an earlier flight home so they used his ticket for one of the younger kids who were originally going to be lap babies. Can you transfer tickets from one person to another like that? I'm guessing you could if it was done through the airline (probably incurring a fee) but I can't tell from the article if that is what this family did or not. I remember reading an article once of a celebrity who always bought herself two tickets so no one would sit next to her on the flight. I think the father is saying he paid for the seat so he can use it how he chooses. Whether that be for extra space, a purse, or a baby.
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Post by annabella on May 4, 2017 14:26:46 GMT
I just remembered I once got a new job but had a weekend trip to Miami. I told the new job I already had plane tickets and couldn't start until the end of my vacation. They paid me to buy a new plane ticket. So my friend returned home after me and said someone else was put in my vacant seat next to her.
But still if the dad boarded the flight with his whole family, I'm sure he handed a stack of tickets to the gate agent to scan, I doubt she really counted 5 tickets and 4 people. Somehow I bet after on the plane they thought a baby with his own seat looked out of place and checked.
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moodyblue
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on May 4, 2017 14:28:57 GMT
Without more details it's difficult to know if the family still had "rights" to that seat.
BUT, I find it ridiculous that an airline can sell more tickets than seats for any flight. I understand that there are often no-shows that leave a flight less than full, but those seats have been paid for, whether or not the people actually use them or not.
And no one should have been threatened with going to jail.
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Post by anonrefugee on May 4, 2017 14:33:04 GMT
It's not as clear cut as headlines make it sound. Once you read the details it's more grey than black and white. All parties could have behaved better.
It's going to be open season on airlines for a while. They should be practicing multiple scenarios for dealing with the disgruntled passengers.
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Deleted
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Jul 2, 2024 2:54:31 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2017 14:34:54 GMT
The ticket in question was their 18 year old son's. He decided to take an earlier flight home so they used his ticket for one of the younger kids who were originally going to be lap babies. Can you transfer tickets from one person to another like that? I'm guessing you could if it was done through the airline (probably incurring a fee) but I can't tell from the article if that is what this family did or not. I remember reading an article once of a celebrity who always bought herself two tickets so no one would sit next to her on the flight. I think the father is saying he paid for the seat so he can use it how he chooses. Whether that be for extra space, a purse, or a baby. But he can only use it if the son bought another ticket to cover the earlier flight even if they're transferable or not.
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Post by leftturnonly on May 4, 2017 14:36:18 GMT
And he was from Ocean County, California.
That family has money, pure and simple.
In other words, they actually were able to handle such a crisis financially. I could not. I'm not sure anyone I know could.
An apology is the very least of the airline's responsibilities here.
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Post by kitkath on May 4, 2017 14:39:18 GMT
Eh, if they paid a transfer fee for the the 18 year old's ticket then the seat is no longer theirs. If the 18 year old is a "no show" on their flight then the seat is no longer theirs. I'm pretty sure you can't transfer tickets to other people these days. They probably showed their 2 boarding passes and buckled their 2 year old into what they assumed was still their 18 year old's seat. Meanwhile Delta has a seat "available" according to the computer and gives it to a passenger that didn't have a seat assignment yet.
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Post by leftturnonly on May 4, 2017 14:42:21 GMT
This story is not as cold, cut, and dry as the last one---to me. Now, to start off, I'm going to say that Delta acted badly in threatening jail to these people. And in not offering them any compensation as well. WTH? Wasn't it just Delta who was in the article for being the airline that supposedly had the very best way of handling overbooked flights? What happened here, then?? Now, in this case, I didn't think plane tickets were transferable. And so I'm not sure that the family was even within their rights as the purchasers of that ticket to decide to plop a younger kid in the seat. And if they were in the wrong about that then I think Delta did have the right to say :Hey, we're sorry, but this seat was for John Doe and John Doe didn't turn up, so we can now fill this seat as we wish." And I can't even be as angry on behalf of the parents for being forced to lap seat the kids as I would have been, because they intended to do that all along. The flew out there with the kids on their laps and were going to fly back that way. But then decided, ooh, look, an empty seat---now we can share lap duty with one kid instead of holding two. If they had purchased seats for both kids from the beginning and someone tried to make them hold the kids, I would have been pissed off on their behalf. But in this case, I can't help but think that they should have at least made a phone call or asked someone upon arrival if they could use their older son's unused ticket in that way. But, back to Delta not handling this well......how do you let this family get on the plane with two toddlers and a car seat, get settled, and THEN realize "Oh, oops, they can't have that seat after all."? Come on folks, get with the program. If that ticket was set up for an adult and it's not transferable, then someone should have noticed, right? So, yeah, this situation is murkier to me, but ultimately I feel that both sides should have done things differently. I do feel bad that the family was stuck in the end with no ride home and no where to stay. I'm just not sure that they didn't have something to do with this situation falling apart, though. Once Delta allowed the family to board the plane using all of the tickets they had purchased and set up the car seat in one of those seats, they had agreed to allow it. It then became no different than if that seat had been purchased for that infant. There wasn't 1 person waiting for 1 seat in the terminal. There were people waiting for all of the family seats. Nope. Sorry. Whatever grey there may have been was blown clear when the family was given access to those seats when they showed their tickets. *The way I read it, the other son bought another ticket and the still retained his ticket to the flight the family was on. If they didn't still have his ticket and plopped a child down on a now unpaid seat, then the family was in the wrong.
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Post by leftturnonly on May 4, 2017 14:44:04 GMT
Eh, if they paid a transfer fee for the the 18 year old's ticket then the seat is no longer theirs. If the 18 year old is a "no show" on their flight then the seat is no longer theirs. I'm pretty sure you can't transfer tickets to other people these days. They probably showed their 2 boarding passes and buckled their 2 year old into what they assumed was still their 18 year old's seat. Meanwhile Delta has a seat "available" according to the computer and gives it to a passenger that didn't have a seat assignment yet. If they only used 2 tickets to board the plane, then I agree with you.
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momto4kiddos
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Jun 26, 2014 11:45:15 GMT
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Post by momto4kiddos on May 4, 2017 14:50:20 GMT
I'm confused...it doesn't say whether they bought another ticket for the son to fly home earlier therefore leaving the later flight ticket still in his name?
If he flew home earlier at no cost, transferring the ticket then to me they don't still have the option of that seat. If they now technically bought 4 tickets, Delta was in the wrong imo.
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Post by jamielynn on May 4, 2017 14:58:07 GMT
An article I read since posting mentioned using the (non transferable) boarding pass of the teen for the toddler in the car seat.
If that's accurate the seat was checked in for ect. However, it's against deltas policy as its non transferable.
At best this was them trying to pull a quick one and very murky.
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Rhondito
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Post by Rhondito on May 4, 2017 15:01:17 GMT
The way I understand it is they bought a whole new ticket for the older son and kept his original ticket thinking they still "owned" the seat. Unfortunately things don't work that way.
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Post by lucillebluth on May 4, 2017 15:01:21 GMT
I find this story kind of confusing. Why didn't they just give up the one seat and keep both toddlers on their laps, per the original plan? (Maybe because they planned to have the older kid as a helper and didn't want to deal with a stranger in the row with two kids? I can't tell.)
Why would the airlines boot them in favor of other passengers if they were paying passengers, too?
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Post by annabella on May 4, 2017 15:05:38 GMT
I'm sure they bought a whole new ticket for their son. Changing a ticket usually has a $200 change fee and thus it make sense for domestic flights to just buy a new one.
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Post by littlemama on May 4, 2017 15:23:38 GMT
There is a lot more to this story than is being reported, I think.
If the toddler's seat was the one in question, and the toddler was going to sit in a lap prior to the 18 year old changing flights, why did the parents not just have the toddler sit in a lap as originally planned. Also, the question of the 18 year old's flight change still needs to be answered.
The fact that they bought 3 new tickets and don't want compensation, just an apology is also very strange.
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tracylynn
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Jun 26, 2014 22:49:09 GMT
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Post by tracylynn on May 4, 2017 15:44:54 GMT
The ticket in question was their 18 year old son's. He decided to take an earlier flight home so they used his ticket for one of the younger kids who were originally going to be lap babies. Can you transfer tickets from one person to another like that? I'm guessing you could if it was done through the airline (probably incurring a fee) but I can't tell from the article if that is what this family did or not. NO! You cannot transfer tickets like that. The 18 year old didn't fly, the family had no right to keep that seat and use it for their infant who they did NOT buy a ticket for. It doesn't work that way. It goes back into the pool and someone else can buy it or it's used to fill stand by passengers. The family doesn't just get to keep it. There is more to this story. They would not have had to buy more tickets, Delta would have put them on the next available flight with their existing tickets. And if it was the next day they would have provided a hotel voucher and food vouchers. Seriously, people are taking things with airlines too far because they see paydays. It's getting out of hand.
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tracylynn
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Jun 26, 2014 22:49:09 GMT
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Post by tracylynn on May 4, 2017 15:48:28 GMT
This story is not as cold, cut, and dry as the last one---to me. Now, to start off, I'm going to say that Delta acted badly in threatening jail to these people. And in not offering them any compensation as well. WTH? Wasn't it just Delta who was in the article for being the airline that supposedly had the very best way of handling overbooked flights? What happened here, then?? Now, in this case, I didn't think plane tickets were transferable. And so I'm not sure that the family was even within their rights as the purchasers of that ticket to decide to plop a younger kid in the seat. And if they were in the wrong about that then I think Delta did have the right to say :Hey, we're sorry, but this seat was for John Doe and John Doe didn't turn up, so we can now fill this seat as we wish." And I can't even be as angry on behalf of the parents for being forced to lap seat the kids as I would have been, because they intended to do that all along. The flew out there with the kids on their laps and were going to fly back that way. But then decided, ooh, look, an empty seat---now we can share lap duty with one kid instead of holding two. If they had purchased seats for both kids from the beginning and someone tried to make them hold the kids, I would have been pissed off on their behalf. But in this case, I can't help but think that they should have at least made a phone call or asked someone upon arrival if they could use their older son's unused ticket in that way. But, back to Delta not handling this well......how do you let this family get on the plane with two toddlers and a car seat, get settled, and THEN realize "Oh, oops, they can't have that seat after all."? Come on folks, get with the program. If that ticket was set up for an adult and it's not transferable, then someone should have noticed, right? So, yeah, this situation is murkier to me, but ultimately I feel that both sides should have done things differently. I do feel bad that the family was stuck in the end with no ride home and no where to stay. I'm just not sure that they didn't have something to do with this situation falling apart, though. Who's to say that's what happened? The 18 year old didn't check in for the flight (or had changed his ticket, whatever). The family ASSUMED they could use that seat, but all Delta sees is an empty seat or a non-checked in guest past the deadline. It's free for them to give away at that time. As far as not being provided compensation - I don't buy it at all. Maybe they didn't give them a voucher for their hotel of choice or something, but that is policy.
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tracylynn
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Jun 26, 2014 22:49:09 GMT
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Post by tracylynn on May 4, 2017 15:52:00 GMT
This story is not as cold, cut, and dry as the last one---to me. Now, to start off, I'm going to say that Delta acted badly in threatening jail to these people. And in not offering them any compensation as well. WTH? Wasn't it just Delta who was in the article for being the airline that supposedly had the very best way of handling overbooked flights? What happened here, then?? Now, in this case, I didn't think plane tickets were transferable. And so I'm not sure that the family was even within their rights as the purchasers of that ticket to decide to plop a younger kid in the seat. And if they were in the wrong about that then I think Delta did have the right to say :Hey, we're sorry, but this seat was for John Doe and John Doe didn't turn up, so we can now fill this seat as we wish." And I can't even be as angry on behalf of the parents for being forced to lap seat the kids as I would have been, because they intended to do that all along. The flew out there with the kids on their laps and were going to fly back that way. But then decided, ooh, look, an empty seat---now we can share lap duty with one kid instead of holding two. If they had purchased seats for both kids from the beginning and someone tried to make them hold the kids, I would have been pissed off on their behalf. But in this case, I can't help but think that they should have at least made a phone call or asked someone upon arrival if they could use their older son's unused ticket in that way. But, back to Delta not handling this well......how do you let this family get on the plane with two toddlers and a car seat, get settled, and THEN realize "Oh, oops, they can't have that seat after all."? Come on folks, get with the program. If that ticket was set up for an adult and it's not transferable, then someone should have noticed, right? So, yeah, this situation is murkier to me, but ultimately I feel that both sides should have done things differently. I do feel bad that the family was stuck in the end with no ride home and no where to stay. I'm just not sure that they didn't have something to do with this situation falling apart, though. Once Delta allowed the family to board the plane using all of the tickets they had purchased and set up the car seat in one of those seats, they had agreed to allow it.It then became no different than if that seat had been purchased for that infant. There wasn't 1 person waiting for 1 seat in the terminal. There were people waiting for all of the family seats. Nope. Sorry. Whatever grey there may have been was blown clear when the family was given access to those seats when they showed their tickets. *The way I read it, the other son bought another ticket and the still retained his ticket to the flight the family was on. If they didn't still have his ticket and plopped a child down on a now unpaid seat, then the family was in the wrong. There's no way it worked that way. You have to show your ID at check in time and it has to match the ticket and you have to show ID at TSA checkpoints and it has to match the ticket. The family didn't try to fly the toddler on the 18 year olds ticket. It would not have worked because the ID of the toddler wouldn't match the ticket. They tried to set the toddler in a seat they felt was theirs even though it wasn't anymore. Delta didn't have a checked in guest for that seat because the son flew a different flight home. IT was a free seat and booked to someone else.
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tracylynn
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Jun 26, 2014 22:49:09 GMT
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Post by tracylynn on May 4, 2017 15:52:49 GMT
I'm sure they bought a whole new ticket for their son. Changing a ticket usually has a $200 change fee and thus it make sense for domestic flights to just buy a new one. Not to and from Hawaii necessarily.
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