B737-300
Flight Attendant Current
Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Workload; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
Our departure station agents boarded [a] disabled female passenger. She was disoriented and did not know where she was going and what her own name was. The Operations Supervisor determined she would be OK to fly by herself. I was very concerned with this decision and voiced my concerns to both Operations and the Captain. She was going to an east coast airport with a stop mid continent. At our intermediate stop; I was assisting wheelchair passengers when she slipped by me unnoticed. As soon as I noticed I immediately went to search for her in the terminal along with the C Flight Attendant. The Operations Agent asked us not to leave the aircraft and stated a Customer Service Agent would find her. We informed him the woman did not know her own name so since she couldn't be paged and we were the only ones who knew what she looked like. We went looking for her and I found her at baggage claim and escorted her back to security. She did not have a boarding pass to get through security so I had an airline employee wait with her until a Supervisor could get her back through security and onto the plane. Operations needs to more carefully evaluate a passenger such as this to more properly decide if she is able to travel independently.
A Flight Attendant questioned whether a developmentally disabled female should fly unaccompanied. It was ignored and at an intermediate stop the passenger slipped out beyond security before being found.