People lining up at Seattle's Airport before the Starbucks opens

A frequent 8yr old flier who flies regularly from Washington state to Kentucky had an interesting experience. She was flying on a Northwest Airlines flight and her parents paid an extra $100 each way for their unaccompanied minor program (someone supervises the child from parent to parent). The child complained of being tired, so the supervising Northwest employee told her to get a large coffee at Starbucks and made her pay using her own money.

Sure, there might be some out there who say a little coffee for a child won’t do any harm, but I doubt anyone can say a large coffee is a good thing for a child.

The excess of caffeine caused her to get sick and she had to make use of the “courtesy bags.” By the time she arrived in Seattle, WA it was obvious to her mother something was wrong, “She was pale, shaking and talking a lot.”

Northwest is investigating, and of course states they take the care of unaccompanied minors very seriously. Although this sounds like a story where it is easy to get upset at Northwest Airlines, I would like to give them and their employees the benefit of the doubt, since we know that sometimes kids can exaggerate stories, especially when it keeps them out of trouble!