Call Kurtis: United Booked Minor, Then Wouldn't Let Him Fly

ELK GROVE (CBS13) -- Eleven-year-old Adam Handal remembers feeling confused when he found himself stranded in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

"Scared, I didn't know what to expect," he said.

United Airlines wouldn't let Handal onto a plane with his 15-year-old sister Julie Gonzalez -- even though the airline booked them both their flights over the phone!

When the kids' aunt had to buy tickets on another airline to get them home, it was time to Call Kurtis.

Their aunt said United knew the age of the kids when she booked the tickets over the phone, but when it came time to fly, United said their policy doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to fly.

Then why did United take their money in the first place?

"They were like, 'It doesn't matter, you have to be 18 and older to have an 11-year-old with you,'" Gonzalez said.

It's true -- the policy is spelled out in in the airline's rules, known as the contract of carriage.

"You feel helpless, because you're so far away," aunt Bernadette Handal said. "You couldn't do anything to help them."

Handal said a United customer service representative booked the kids' return trip from florida over the phone, but she didn't expect she'd have to spend an additional $1,100 on Southwest Airlines tickets to get them home the same day.

United refunded the price of the original tickets, but Handal wants them to refund the difference in price for the Southwest tickets, which is about $500.

"When you screw up, you got to make it right," she said.

"Airlines are changing their policy on an almost monthly basis," said travel attorney Adam Anolik.

He said if the airlines don't follow their own policy when booking a ticket, they can't hold the customer to that policy either.

Anolik thinks United should pay Handal the difference in ticket price.

"The service agent never informed them of the terms so they shouldn't be able to apply them to her," he said.

Call Kurtis reached out to United, which admitted, "Our agent made a mistake."

"We are reaching out ... to apologize and hope to have the opportunity to welcome her back," the company statement said.

They gave bernadette a $500 credit, which she accepted.

The kids still aren't happy about what they went through.

"For me, I wouldn't go back on United," Adam Handal said.

Each airline has its own policy for unaccompanied minors, but you can read it in the contract of carriage before you buy with a particular website.

If you book through a travel agent, they can make sure you're covered even if there is a mistake made like this.