America West Modifies Unaccompanied Minor Program; Children Traveling Alone Accepted on Non-Stop Flights  

PHOENIX, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Following an audit of its Unaccompanied Minor travel program, America West Airlines (NYSE: AWA) today announced that it plans to allow unaccompanied minors on non-stop flights only, a move that will have no impact on the majority of unaccompanied children who currently travel on non-stop flights to or from the airline's hub cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Columbus.

 "Last year alone, America West successfully transported around 25,000 unaccompanied minors," said Anthony Mule, senior vice president of customer service. "We are proud of our outstanding record and of our reputation for providing excellent service to unaccompanied minors. "However, recent incidents involving various airlines including America West during this extremely busy summer travel season led us to conduct a complete audit of our policies and procedures associated with unaccompanied minor travel," he added.

 "While this was a difficult decision for us, we have determined that the infrastructure requirements and resources associated with supervising and escorting children on connecting flights are inconsistent with our objective of providing outstanding customer service at low fares." 

Effective September 10, 2001, America West will transport unaccompanied minors between the ages of 5 and 11 on non-stop flights only. For unaccompanied minors who currently fly non-stop to or from one of the airline's hub cities of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Columbus, there will be no impact. Individuals who have purchased tickets for unaccompanied minor travel involving connecting flights to take place after September 10 will be offered full and immediate refunds of both the ticket price and the unaccompanied minor handling fee.

America West Airlines, the nation's eighth-largest carrier, serves 92 destinations with more than 900 daily departures in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Along with its codeshare partners, America West serves more than 180 destinations worldwide. America West Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of America West Holdings Corporation, an aviation and travel services company with 2000 sales of $2.3 billion.