Airline loses 11-year-old girl

Los Angeles to Detroit the long way

By Rob Watson in Washington

A major American airline has launched an investigation into how it managed to lose an 11-year-old girl.

The girl, Annalise Woods, was travelling with a company chaperone on America West Airlines from Los Angeles to Detroit, but the journey did not go as planned.

"Every flight counts" is the proud slogan of America West Airlines - but not perhaps, in the light of recent developments, every passenger.

Given Annalise's age, her parents had arranged for a company chaperone to make sure she got on the right flights when she took her trip last weekend - but the chaperone failed.

24 hour ordeal

The girl recognised things had gone horribly wrong when the plane landed and the pilot welcomed everyone to Orlando, Florida, a good half a continent away from Detroit, Michigan.

Almost 24 hours later than scheduled, Annalise finally arrived in Detroit, via Las Vegas, Nevada.

The girl's father said she got off the plane in tears and never wants to fly alone again.

'Rare occurrence'

America West insists thousands of minors travel by themselves every year and have described losing Annalise as an extremely rare occurrence.

To make amends, the airline is offering to give the girl's parents free tickets and a holiday package - though America West says for the moment it cannot find the parents to make the offer.