Kids fly solo to Nashville, wanted to go to Dollywood

A 15 year old girl wanted to go Dollywood so she spent her babysitting money on a flight to Nashville for herself, her little brother and a friend. They got to Nashville and didn't realize how far Dollywood was from the airport and called their parents to get home.

You can read about it here.

Wow. Had they only flew in to Knoxville...

But seriously, She blew $700 for 3 friends to fly out to dollywood, but they didn't have a ticket to get home? I think I'm reading that right. Wonder what they thought when they got to the cab and asked to go to Dollywood and the cabbie said "That'll be $1100 bucks, half up front"?

Nice. The cynic in me says the parents are going to push this until some rules and regulations change, but the fact remains that the airline/security followed procedure exactly.

I can only imagine their disappointment. It's sort of a sad story.

Disappointing and sad that she could have had money towards a car, and now all they have is a news story. Totally agree. I don't see how this was in any way anyone's fault other than the kids. I knew better than to pull a stunt like this at 15. Heck, I had to ask permission to walk down the street at that point still.

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time. I'm glad it's offering them their 15 minutes of fame. To think, that girl is a year away from being on the streets behind the wheel (not of her own car anymore, however.) AND she earned the funding for her stupid stunt by caring for the welfare of children (ie. babysitting.)

Lame....

Am I the only one who thinks the airline stuff is a non-issue, and that the girl deserves some credit for having the balls to attempt what she really wanted to do? I mean, -1 for not using Google Maps first, but +2 for going for it.

The airlines did nothing wrong and the parents placing blame on them is just wrong. They should be blaming themselves for not being there.

I was pretty immature at 15 so I don't blame the girl for being ignorant. I honestly just feel bad for her. I hope that she at least gets to go to Dollywood. :)

How can these kids get through security? Hey I am all for going to a place you love, but kids need IDs. If they don't have them they have to have a responsible adult with them.

This girl really has guts, good for her.

Yeah Jeff I agree I feel bad that they didn't even get to enjoy the theme park since they tried to make the trip the way that they did spending all their hard earned money to get there.

No, I disagree. A demonstration of courage would have been looking into all of the logistics of the trip, planning accordingly, and understanding the magnitude of what they were about to do and then doing it. Whimsically texting a friend to take a flight without a plan is stupid.

And I agree the airline and security aspects are non-issues. And the fact that the parents are choosing to capitalize on the opportunity and/or shift blame is really annoying.

Really lame....

Thinking back to age 15, I don't think I would have had the balls to take the trip like these kids, so yes, I would call it a demonstration of courage.

As for not looking into all of the logistics involved, I would say that was a failure to demonstrate maturity, if anything.

I don't get it. A girl takes her younger brother and younger neighbor along on a flight where she had no idea where she was actually going or what could have happened to any of them along the way and you think she deserves some credit for being courageous?

At 15 I wouldn't have had the balls to take a trip like this either, but it would have been because I understood flying to another state to visit an amusement park is not the same thing as heading across town to the movies. If I was as naive as this person apparently is, I might actually have had the courage, too.

Really, really lame....

Carrie M. said: At 15 I wouldn't have had the balls to take a trip like this either, but it would have been because I understood flying to another state to visit an amusement park is not the same thing as heading across town to the movies.

My parents would have grounded me for life, and then some. The fear of that alone would have stopped me.

Wait, you mean your parents wouldn't just shrug their shoulders in disbelief that you would do such a thing and then find a media outlet to talk about how it shouldn't have happened because the airline and TSA should have stopped you? That's weird....

I like your choice of the word naive. I don't think she had a clue what this sort of thing entailed. As much as I wish it were the case, airliners don't land in amusement park parking lots (though it's mighty close at Kentucky Kingdom). If she knew that once in BNA (using Nashville's airport code), she had a drive of several hours ahead of her and accounted for it, then I'd give her credit for being courageous. Given that she probably just looked at booking a flight to Tennessee and picked the first airport that came up, without actually considering that hey, Tennessee is more than just a couple miles across, I'd say she was more clueless than courageous.

And how nice of the parents to blame the airline and TSA for their kids' ignorance. Make your kids own up to their brilliant idea.

I wonder if she confused Knoxville and Nashville, though? Since Knoxville is 'only' 30 miles from the area, but, then I doubt a cab would have driven her that far either.

Still, the parents should be more concerned with disciplining their 15 year old for taking 2 friends on a flight across several states without their permission, and not worry about how normal operation at an airport works.

When I was 15, I thought there was a park the scope of CP near every city. Now that I live in Seattle, I know that isn't true. I can excuse that part of the girl's failure. I still give her some credit, even if it wasn't a great decision.

And yes, I agree that the parents have no one to blame.

Jeff said:
When I was 15, I thought there was a park the scope of CP near every city.

Interesting. I thought just the opposite. That the few amusement parks I knew of were all there were.

And at the time, that would have put the list at about 6 or 8.

Carrie M. said:
...she had no idea where she was actually going or what could have happened to any of them along the way and you think she deserves some credit for being courageous?

Well, sure!

Christopher Columbus
Lewis & Clark
Bridget the Dollywood Chick
Amerigo Vespucci

Same diff...