[music playing] NARRATOR: Family dramas take
center stage on "Airline," where patience is a virtue. I just saw their behavior. And I saw the behavior
of their chaperones. And it is not acceptable. NARRATOR: And anxious parents
don't like what they're told. You're going to
have to purchase a ticket for the infant. You're kidding. Will they refund it to us? NARRATOR: And could
this be the last straw? They want $3,000-some odd
dollars to get us the hell out of here. [THEME - JIMMY COUPE, "37,000
FEET"] 37,000 feet is not quite high enough to get
me closer to you. Put me on a jet plane. Lose my mind and go insane. Got to get closer to you. NARRATOR: Whether traveling
in families, group trips, or flying unaccompanied,
children are a common sight at the airport. For many of them, flying can
be a frightening experience. But today in Chicago,
it's the behavior of a group of rowdy children
onboard an inbound flight from Vegas that has left the
adult passengers frightened and upset. OK, I'm on my way. NARRATOR: Manager Colleen
Borrego has been called in to sort out the incident. They need me at B20. There's some customers
that have just come in from another flight
that want to see a manager. I'm not sure why. NARRATOR: The police
have been brought in to deal with 40 rowdy
passengers still on board. Meanwhile, the other 60
passengers from the flight are at the gate
demanding compensation. Hi, I'm Colleen. Hi, Colleen. Hi, what can I
do for you guys? Well, this is probably
the worst flight I've ever been on In, my entire life. OK, did something
happen with the crew? Not the crew, not
Southwest whatsoever. But you've got people that will
not listen to the flight crew. I'm sorry. And, in my opinion,
everybody on that flight deserves a free ticket. COLLEEN BORREGO: Is that
everybody waiting to see me? Yeah. Look, you guys get
some vouchers out. I'll be right back. I apologize. NARRATOR: It seems that
a group of young BMX-ers has been running rampant
during the flight, defying all requests to
sit down and terrifying their fellow passengers. COLLEEN BORREGO: We've got
a whole riot downstairs with people complaining about
the behavior that was going on here. PILOT: I know, yeah,
that's how bad it was. COLLEEN BORREGO: Are
we pressing charges? I don't-- it was
just rowdy behavior. Well, you have your
whole plane is downstairs. No cameras, tell
them to take-- No, they're not. NARRATOR: The Chicago police
stopped our cameras for fear of escalating the situation. The sound however,
continue to record. COLLEEN BORREGO: Sir,
this isn't amusing. MAN: You can't
blame other people. COLLEEN BORREGO:
Where is the crew? No, these kids are just
as disrespectful as some of the adults. This is probably the
craziest thing I've ever seen on an airplane since 9/11. I just-- I couldn't imagine
people still acting like that. I mean, it don't happen. Well, you had children that
were on the plane that would not listen to the
stewardess, they would not listen to the
captain over the PA. They ran up and down the aisles. They wouldn't listen
to their parents. They were throwing
things back and forth. The captain kept
coming over the intercom asking them to please be seated,
please put your seat belt on. We hit turbulence, the kids were
still running down the aisle, stepping on people. NARRATOR: Over at the ticket
desk, a mother and her two sons have arrived late and missed
their flight to San Diego. I don't want to go stand-by. I want to be-- I want to have an assigned
seat on the flight, I was supposed to be
at work this morning. NARRATOR: Sharon
McInerney and her sons could be in for a long
wait for the next flight. If there's not
at 9:15, we have to stand by the whole damn day? Check another airline for me-- American West, anything? Just check another
airline for me. I want to get out
of Chicago today. OK, let-- Our flight was supposed
to leave in 10 minutes. And we missed our flight. And they've got nothing
available all day, you know? I'm going to miss a whole
day of work for this? Got here late, didn't expect
the line to be like this. Then there was a problem
with the credit card I guess, or something. EMPLOYEE: Ma'am, they advise
you to be here two hours before departure. You showed up 20 minutes
before departure. Because the line. EMPLOYEE: The line takes about
40 minutes, 40 to 50 minutes. Well, we've never
been here before, so I didn't know this, OK? Everything's sold out. It's Monday, so it's a busy day. Everything is overbooked,
that's ridiculous. It's absolutely insane. It's not like this in San Diego. NARRATOR: Sharon
and her sons have no choice but to go on standby. Justin, get over
here and take this. NARRATOR: Back on flight 1448,
Colleen is losing her cool with the rowdy passengers. WOMAN: Ma'am, we never
got out of out seats. COLLEEN BORREGO:
No, I am not going to have children
disrespecting us, calling us names and disrespecting us. A young kid with a Playboy
magazine, showing nude photos, kids running up
and down the aisle. And you have a gentleman
on there telling people, we're going to die. Grab your butt, you know, or
kiss your [bleep] good-bye. And you have-- there was
one lady on the flight that had never flown before. And she's listening to this
for the very first time. She's scared half to death. COLLEEN BORREGO: Excuse me,
no body is going to call me an MF-er-- yes, you did, on the aircraft. Let's just leave this jetway. I'm not sure that any of you
are traveling with us today. No one has asked her, the
minute we walked in the door. That's what I was
trying to tell her. She didn't want to hear it.
[yelling] You know what? You should be setting a better
example for these children. Excuse me. NARRATOR: Oh, we're
not done with it. I do apologize, folks. I truly apologize for your
experience on this aircraft today. That is not acceptable behavior. I just saw their behavior. And I saw the behavior
of their chaperones. And it is not acceptable. And I do apologize. It's not your fault. And I'm not done with it. Right, I need the phone. Oh, that's-- that's going in. I've got a call CSC. OK. Bye. NARRATOR: The main
perpetrator on the flight was one of the adult chaperones. And he intends to make his
connection to Louisville. I wanted to see a manager
because the behavior of the children and the adults
that were on this aircraft was unbelievable. The children on the aircraft
are calling the Chicago police MF-ers. The children are being just as
disrespectful as the adults. The adults are screaming. They're connecting
here in Chicago. I'm denying boarding to any
adults and children that are behaving this way. NARRATOR: It's a tough call. Colleen may have to refuse
boarding to all 40 passengers with the BMX group. At Chicago Midway Airport, there
are still more difficulties at the ticket desk. But this time, it's a
toddler causing a ruckus. I'm at nurseries-- NARRATOR: The Temple family
is going from Chicago to San Diego. The ticket agent is questioning
the age of their youngest child, who looks older
than two years old. She needs proof of age. Then she can go and verify it. She's not even
one and a half-- 16 months. So now we're just trying to get. Home and now they say we need
to have a birth certificate or something with their
birth date on it, yeah. EMPLOYEE: Do you guys
have the yellow slip that you filled out? Yes, in that envelope. Where's that envelope
that I gave you? I threw it away. We didn't need that. It was in that. We threw away
that yellow slip. It's just-- on the way out. It's nothing we needed
on the way back. You have it in the
computer, right, that she was with
us on the way out. In the record, it
doesn't show that there was an infant traveling. What I'm going to
have to do, is you're going to have to purchase
the ticket for the infant. You're kidding me? Will they refund it to us? Can you not call the
hospital and verify? Whatever ticket you pay,
when you submit the birth certificate, they'll
give you a refund. It's a possibility. But if not, you can
come on in and call. Yeah, we'll do it. We can do that. Not a problem. I can even ask for
the supervisor. NARRATOR: Back at
the gate, Colleen has to decide what to do with
a group of rowdy BMX-ers. We're going to see if we
even allow them to travel on the next aircraft. We won't put customers
through that again, OK? I'm sorry. My question is though, if
you were standing in my shoes, do you think that
what we went through is only worth a $50 voucher? No, not at all. And you'll probably
get something from us. I'm going to send this into
the executive offices, OK? But seriously, what I'm
looking at is a free ticket. Yeah, and I don't blame you. And I only spent a
few minutes up there. And I am truly sorry. That behavior is not acceptable. NARRATOR: The group in question
is traveling to a bike rally and has a different
perspective on the incident. There's 40 kids. They're excited. Long flight, you know? And just kids going up and
down, using the restroom, talking to each other,
switching seats. I got this feeling that they
didn't understand that they were making people very
scared around them or nervous. They thought
everything was funny. There were lots of kids-- it was-- they were
just out of control. It was blown
out of proportion. Totally. And the police
officers that came, they stormed that plane
like there was a terrorist. And it turned into a pissing
match between both, you know, the older group
and the policemen. NARRATOR: Across
the country at LAX, it's a big day for 10-year-old
Mark Gomez, who is traveling alone for the first time to
visit cousins in Las Vegas. Will I go on first
or will I go on last? You'll go on first. You'll be OK. There will be a flight attendant
helping you the whole time. - Thank you.
- You got it? - Yeah.
- OK. Let's move. I know he's in good hands. My family, they're good. But still, he's my baby. So this is his trip without me. I'm going to be-- my nerves
are going to be rattled. Hold onto that. OK, you ready to go? Yeah. Thanks. Bye, mom. Wow.
EMPLOYEE: Excited? MARK GOMEZ: Yeah. NARRATOR: Back in Chicago,
11-year-old Kenneth Morvo has just arrived but has been
unaccompanied since the plane pulled up to the gate. He was just standing
in the hallway. And the person that was supposed
to get him off the plane, she went back on the plane. He was supposed to
have been monitored. They don't even know I got him. That's not acceptable. NARRATOR: Anita calls the
gate for more details. That it ain't good. Anybody could have came
and picked my son up. And he's standing
down there by himself. NARRATOR: Back in LA, Mark is
in the capable hands of flight attendant Heather Hale. Now, you've flown
with us before, right? Yeah. So you're a pro at this. NARRATOR: But
Lydia's flying solo. Last night, he
was kind of upset. So I told him when he comes
back, we're going to-- I told him, we'll go
out on a hot date. We're going to have a dinner,
and a movie, and something. Oh, I hope he's not crying. My first time on. Huh? First time on a flight. Oh, really? By myself. These things only crash
about once every five times, so you should be OK. NARRATOR: Back in Chicago,
Anita gets to the bottom of how 11-year-old Kenneth Morvo
was allowed to wander around the airport alone. I don't want you to
be offended if I say it. And I understand
that we get busy, but it's so important we
be attentive to minors. Because legally, we are
legally responsible for them. Yes, ma'am. And you are right. And I have no excuse for
we not being more attentive to your son. It shouldn't have happened. I did talk to the
agent at the gate. And she said that she was
busy, and when she looked up, he was gone. But that's not an excuse. We did drop the ball on that
part of taking care of him. If you want to try
to fly us again, I welcome to give you a travel
voucher for his next trip. I know it is not going to
make up for what happened, but we want to
try to make it up. OK, that's fine. Thank you. I'm sorry. I am bothered by the fact that
that baby was able to walk away and she not notice. So we'll talk to
the agent later. NARRATOR: The Temple family's
dilemma with their 16-month-old continues. Mrs. Temple is determined
to prove her daughter's age to avoid buying a ticket. So she phones a friend at the
hospital where the baby was born to get her birth
certificate faxed. HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE:
What do you need, like you need the medical
record number or what? What do you want
to verify this? Because she's looking
at it right now. If she has the-- that would be fine. If she has a number. Yeah, medical record works. HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE: OK, give
me just like five minutes. Five minutes, you got it.
HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE: Thank you. Thanks, Jen. I owe you. HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE: OK, bye-bye. So she's going to fax it. I'll probably see
her Sunday at church and say, I owe you
a lunch, honey. All right. Hey, McKenna, I know
you're big for your age. I mean, they're upset. Because they know that
their child is under two. And I'm used to having
them shout at me. I mean, just coming to the
airport to begin with is tough. And then she tries
to blame it on me for not being here on time? I don't think so. NARRATOR: Sharon
McInerney and her sons are now on standby for
a flight to San Diego. Will there be three seats left? We only have two seats left. Oh, well. There goes that. Let's go. Let's go to American West. Do you want to spend all
damn day in the airport? American West? The flight out-- the last flight is booked. I just want to get out of here. Thank you. They want $3,000-some odd
dollars to get us the hell out of here. And nobody else
has got anything. We're stuck. I mean, Southwest has
really screwed me. NARRATOR: It looks like Sharon's
finally run out of options. There's no way out of here. NARRATOR: In Chicago,
Colleen continues to deal with a rowdy
group of BMX bikers, and consults with
her boss, Ginny. It's a group of about
40 adults and children. Oh, I just checked them in here. You checked into Louisville? Vegas going to Louisville. Well, we're going
to go follow-up. Because I think-- I just checked them in here. OK. NARRATOR: Both Colleen and Ginny
speak to the Las Vegas pilot to get his version of events. Two hours into
the flight and I turned the seat belt sign
on and set them down. But that didn't faze them. No, right. And then about
30 minutes later, we had to dodge
some thunderstorms. And I sent the flight attendants
down and had them strap in. And they said
there's people still back there standing up, and
running around, being crazy. I mean, they were just ignoring
everybody, including me. NARRATOR: They
finally decide to deny boarding to the main
perpetrator of the group. One of the adult chaperones. And let the others
fly onto Louisville. We're denying him. Yeah, because he made the
comment, and he, on the plane. Admitted that he was the
one that was instigating. Right, right, right. You're on the next flight. I already told him, make
sure don't go to the bar. Yeah, no more drinking. I'm just in life to have fun. People can have fun. If I would've said
something terrorism, or shoot you, or something,
I can understand. But I say [bleep]. I said absolutely
nothing like that. NARRATOR: Under the watchful
eye of the Chicago police, the BMX group, minus one,
finally boards their flight. I've never seen a group behave
that way so disrespectfully and so rude. And we, at one
point, did actually have to assess whether we were
going to allow them to travel on this fight. That would have been my
first denied boarding of 40. Yeah, I'm trying to get out
of Chicago to go to San Diego. Do you have anything available? NARRATOR: Sharon McInerney has
tried every which way to escape Chicago without success. Great. We can't get out of here. I want to go home, to San Diego. I want to sue Southwest, man. We can't get out of here. I don't believe this. I don't believe this. We're stuck in damn Chicago. NARRATOR: She ends up asking
Anita if she can get her on a flight today. Let me see. Just want to make sure I don't
have a better way for you to get to San Diego. Just double-checking, OK? I mean, if the girl hadn't
screwed around with my credit card so long, we could
have made our flight. Then she tells these guys,
oh, well she came up here 20 minutes before boarding. That's the truth. OK, so let's prepare
you that you're going to go to Kansas City. So again, a double connection. So it changes planes
again in Albuquerque to get you to San Diego. If that's the only
way we can do it, that's the only
way we can do it. Oh my gosh. I've never gone through so much
hassle in all my life flying. NARRATOR: It's a roundabout
way back to San Diego. But it's their only option. Are you available now? NARRATOR: Back in LAX,
Lydia waits anxiously for the call to say her son has
arrived safely in Las Vegas. OK, Sprite for you. And Coke for you here. you're the one that said you're
a peanut fan, aren't you? He's a peanut fan. We're going to have to give
him a little to-go bag. Good, very good. I didn't think it was going
to bother me when I let him go. But now I'm thinking-- I hope he didn't
cry on the plane. EMPLOYEE: We get a few,
they come on crying. It's sometimes heart
wrenching, really, to see so many kids doing that. But he's a jewel. NARRATOR: Back at
Chicago Midway, Mike Temple is waiting for
his family at the gate. Their flight leaves
in 10 minutes, but there's no sign of them. You haven't seen them? [music playing] CHILD: Daddy. Daddy. Oh, Dad's here too. Thank you. NARRATOR: Reunited,
they head to the gate, only to be confronted
with another problem. But we're missing
a boarding card. We're missing a boarding card. Did you guys
check in because-- I didn't take any
out of the folder. Waited an hour and a half
when I got to the gate. CHILD: No. Let's go. Now I've got 10 minutes, or
nine minutes, before it leaves. Tags right here. This tag-- WOMAN: Come on, guys. NARRATOR: On board at
last, but their troubles continue because
the remaining four seats are in different rows. EMPLOYEE: I'm going to get
out of here so you guys can-- WOMAN: You don't realize these
children are five or under. Bless your heart. Here you go. WOMAN: All because of you. WOMAN: I know. All because of you. [music playing] EMPLOYEE: We're here. Finally. EMPLOYEE: Awesome. You were a perfect
passenger for us. This must be Cousin Mike-- Yeah. He's been talking
about all day. We have fun though. I mean, New Year's this
is his totally favorite. OK. And then we just have to have
your signature right there. Sure.
[phone ringing] We love it. Oh. Oh, there they are. [phone ringing] Hello? Hi, baby. You made it? Good flight? You have fun? Yeah. Did you cry in your
way down to the plane? A little bit. I was crying too,
so you jinxed me. You're not supposed to do that. Remember? We made a deal, no crying. I love you. OK . I love you too. I'll call you every morning. I'm going to call
you tonight, and I'll call you in the morning.
- OK. Goodbye. Bye bye. She told me she cried. [laughter] Off to Vegas. We'll see. Let me just take a look. Let me see if I can find Sharon. NARRATOR: Back in Chicago,
Anita is absolutely determined to make sure Sharon
gets on a flight today. ANITA (ON INTERCOM): Standby
passenger Sharon McInerney to the podium please. Standby passenger Sharon
McInerney to the podium. Come on, Sharon. We're on? I think you made it, honey. Oh. Come on, guys. ANITA: You didn't trust
me, did you, Sharon? You didn't trust me, did you. Oh, god. I'm very happy. I'll get home a whole lot
earlier than 5:17 tonight. You guys are
welcome to board, OK? Right through the open door. Thank you. Come on, guys. Let's go. ANITA: OK, Sharon. Have a good one. - Thank you very much.
- OK. Appreciate your help. All right. So thank God she made it. So she'll get to San
Diego at a decent hour, as opposed to 8:00 tonight. I'm going to my next battle. [laughs] See you later.
