Young girl falls ill after airline employee gives her a venti coffee

8-year-old Payton Parkerson flies to Kentucky a half dozen times a year to visit her father.

“She’s really been brave and good about it,“ says her mother, Heather Wood.

But on April 11 that changed.

Payton was flying Northwest Airlines from Louisville to Seattle, using its unaccompanied minor program for an extra $100 each way.

During a layover in Detroit, her mother says the supervising Northwest employee took the 8-year-old to Starbucks.

“I told her I was tired and she took me to Starbucks and said, ‘Go order a large coffee,‘“ said Payton.  “She made me pay with my own money.“

Payton says it was a “large coffee” that the Northwest Airlines attendant then loaded with cream and sugar.

A “venti” has six times the caffeine of a can of coke.

“I started getting more shaky and my heart started racing,“ added Payton.

Payton ended up getting very sick and vomited twice into a courtesy bag.

Fortunately a pediatrician was on board and took care of her.

When mom picked her up at Sea-Tac Airport, she was frightened by her daughter’s appearance.

“She was pale, shaken and talking a lot. We pay an extra $100 for this program each way and I was assured my daughter would be taken care of, and when she wasn’t, I was really, really upset about it,“ she said.

Northwest Airlines released this statement: “We certainly regret that this child was ill on one of our flights as we take the care of unaccompanied minors very seriously when they travel with us. We are continuing our investigation as the story you have provided us doesn’t match our records.“

With mom and dad living across the country from each other, they now face a big problem.

“She doesn’t want to fly at all, especially by herself,“ said Wood.