Statement from Brad Hopkins, Southwest Airlines spokesperson - WKRN, Nashville News, Nashville Weather and Sports

Statement from Brad Hopkins, Southwest Airlines spokesperson

The Customer's delay into La Guardia was weather related, completely out of our control. Our main priority is safely transporting all Customers, including our unaccompanied minor passenger, in this case to LaGuardia, the flight's final destination.

Our unaccompanied minor policy does not include the contacting of guardians when a flight is delayed or rerouted but we typically do our best to keep guardians notified when a disruption in scheduled service occurs.  Unfortunately, we did not connect with the parents of the Customer traveling in this situation, we are in the process of conducting our own internal investigation to identify why the additional outreach was not made. We apologize for any concern that the flight disruption may have caused.

We realize families place their trust in us when we transport loved ones of all ages and we take that trust very serious. Of course, our younger Customers are extremely precious and we want to do everything in our power to make sure they are comfortable and safe when traveling. Again, we were focused on getting the passenger to her final destination as soon as we could safely do so. We realize the situation was delicate and we've issued the family a refund for the ticket and an additional voucher as a gesture of goodwill. Hopefully their next flight experience will be more positive, including clear skies and an on time arrival.

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