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I recently read  about Continental Airlines losing a 10-year-old girl whose father put her on a nonstop plane to visit her grandparents.

When the child did not arrive, her father remembered seeing another flight bound for a different destination next to the child’s airplane and leaving about the same time.

Sure enough, his daughter had been put on the wrong airplane. She arrived safely, a little late but none the worse for her detour.

It was a little surprising because I know how careful the airlines are with  children placed in their care.

For years, my children, Anna and Stevie, flew without an adult from Arizona to North Carolina. Since 1997, my grandsons, Jude, 19, and Austin, 11, have been flying by themselves back and forth from New Mexico to North Carolina. And on every trip, they have had to change planes.

Airlines have strict policies about the care of children traveling without guardians, and I have had only one problem.

When my son, Stevie, was 9, he was flying from Cincinnati to Greensboro. My husband and I filled out a limited amount of paperwork back then and waited until a Piedmont Airlines attendant took Stevie onboard. We were traveling at the time and went to our next destination.

Stevie was scheduled to change planes in Washington, and the attendant told him to wait in his seat until she took him to his next flight. But Stevie remembered his dad and me talking to some men from Greensboro and knew they were headed to the same place he was.

When the plane landed in Cincinnati and the attendant went to get him, he was gone.

A call was placed to Greensboro to get a description of Stevie. Luckily, the attendant answering  was a nephew of Stevie’s grandparents and provided the information. He said there was no way he was going to tell Grandma and  Papa their precious little grandson was lost somewhere in D.C.

As it turned out, when the flight to Greensboro was completely boarded, an attendant noticed a boy she had not seen getting on the plane (back then it was much easier to get on airplanes, especially if you were a child).

She asked the child his name, and he replied, “Stevie Fish.” Calls immediately went out to everyone, including the relative in Greensboro, telling them Stevie was onboard the Greensboro-bound flight.

After Stevie arrived and his grandparents learned of his disappearance, they asked Stevie how he knew which plane to get on.

His reply: “I knew those two men were going to Greensboro. When they got off the plane, I got off. When they went to the bathroom, I did, and when they got on another plane, I did.”

Jude started his annual treks alone on a commercial airline when he was just seven. At that time, few children flew without an adult, and the escort service for children was free.

But as the number of children flying alone increased, a fee of $25 was added. This soon increased to $50. When Austin began flying alone a couple of years ago, the fee was $75, and on his last flight for this summer’s visit, it was $100 — one way.

Children are given lanyards to hold vital information as well as their destination and who will meet them at the airport. When the flight arrives, the attendants take the children to find the people meeting them or to their next flight — unless, of course, they have longer layovers. Then they are taken to special rooms equipped with toys, games, TVs and books.

This year, though, a slight problem occurred with Austin’s flight. He didn’t know until he arrived how upset I had been.

He was scheduled to leave Albuquerque at 10 a.m., but he was switched to another flight leaving two hours later.

Jude had taken him to the airport and had to stay with Austin until he was onboard. Jude called me, but I had gone outside and didn’t hear the phone. He left a message: “Grandma, Austin won’t be in until 8 p.m.”

I checked the computer and learned the original flight had left the gate about 35 minutes late. However, Austin was not listed as a passenger.

That’s when I began getting uneasy. I called the Albuquerque airport and had Jude paged, but he didn’t answer.

Finally, I called the airline and learned Austin had been put on another airline and would arrive at 8 p.m.

My foster sister and I got to the airport about  an hour before the flight arrived. I had been wondering if Austin’s luggage would get transferred, so I stopped by the unclaimed baggage area. Sure enough, I recognized one of his bags next to the door. An attendant told me he had two bags for Austin but had to see his ticket.

After meeting Austin at the gate, where I had to show a photo ID to get him, we headed for the baggage office. It took only about two minutes to get his luggage.

Good things often occur when things go wrong. In this case, we had Austin and his luggage in the car and were out of the airport before his fellow travelers had even gotten the first piece of luggage.

Ann Fish is a Reidsville native who has lived in Eden since 1979. She is a retired newspaper editor and reporter. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.com.