Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?

Here’s the big news out of Houston: Twice in the past week two unaccompanied minors were jetted to the wrong destinations on flights run by our hometown airline, Continental.

The write-up from The Houston Press’ Hair Balls blog:

One 10-year-old girl who was trying to get from Boston to Cleveland ended up in Newark. (The only time ending up in Newark is “not so bad” is when you were intending to go to Cleveland.) A, 8-year-old girl trying to get to Charlotte from Houston ended up in Fayetteville. Not Fayetteville, North Carolina — which would have been close, at least — but Fayetteville, Arkansas.

A spokesperson for the airlines said in a prepared statement that “Continental has clear procedures to assist children traveling alone, and we take the responsibility very seriously. We have also taken immediate action to reinforce to airport representatives that they must closely adhere to established procedures.”

Now, I don’t doubt that Continental might bear some responsibility here. And I have no doubt AT ALL that there will be lawsuits galore over this one.

But these kids were 8 and 10 years old. Now, my memory is pretty much shot, but I don’t think I would have gotten on the wrong plane at that age. I mean, I’m sure I’d be pretty clear on my destination. And I’m damn sure that my parents would have pounded the destination city into my head before they dropped me off at the airport.

I’m also damn sure my ass would have been grass if I got onto the wrong plane. My dad would have blamed somebody, but that somebody would have been me, not the airline.

I’m just saying that the kids might want to bear some responsibility here and the parents might want to do a little less whining to the newspaper.

Now, if Continental had accidently put some kids on an Air France flight gone bad, there might be some room for a lawsuit.