comment: >
  
  I was only going by comments that said the stuardess did a headcount, but his ticket was missing, so it seemed to check out. Was the ticket in the passport?
  I've never seen it.
context: Not sure what, exactly, to do with this, but I would think that one of the main arguments here would have been that the father bears just as much responsibility as mom. Thus far, your entire rationale, and the rationale offered by everyone else, has only focused on whether MOM screwed up. Why? Why doesn't DAD bear any responsibility?
  And really, why not just call it a collective failure of the entire family? Kevin's uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings, not a single one of them noticed or spoke up about the fact that Kevin seems to be absent. Don't they bear at least some blame?
  But really, I don't get why we're only talking about mom here and not dad. If it's a parenting issue, he's just as much a parent as she is. >
  
  Ya tbh, a kid is missing for a whole day and none of that massive family realises? How isolated was he? I have an extended family in Pakistan and I can't imagine this happening to any one of us. You don't just forget a family member you've known and loved for years, exists >
  
  
  loved 
  
  I think this one only applies to the parents lol. >
  
  No? Cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents? >
  
  Eh the only ones who ever seemed really worried about him were the parents and the one sister. >
  
  If you can't physically account for your kids and can't remember seeing them during an entire day, you probably have parenting issues. I come from a large extended family that vacations together so the idea that someone is forgotten because of large numbers doesn't add up to me. The most likely outcome is that the drivers of multiple vehicles assume someone is going with someone else, but that is resolved well before we get on a plane. It's also implied that Kevin gets picked on unfairly and his parents don't seem to do much to help (though it's been a while since I saw the film so I'm not sure.) >
  
  No it totally is. He’s stuck with the bed wetter in his bed and his older brother eats all the cheese(?) pizza despite knowing that he only likes that kind of pizza and then is blamed for being mad >
  
  Definitely exacerbated in the sequel when his brother humiliates him during a solo in choir and they make it Kevin’s fault. >
  
  They could have literally spent 20 seconds in the airport before going into the plane, to make sure everyone was there. >
  
  Whenever I went on field trips as a kid there was a register of all the kids names going on the trip, and whenever there was a change of locations a teacher would stand by the door and check everyone off as they entered/left the bus to make sure everyone was accounted for.
  It'd take no time at all for an adult with the group to do the same as they boarded the plane to notice they were missing someone.
  It's a basic rule for travelling with kids, you always double check who's with you before going anywhere because kids love to wonder off or decide they'd rather hide on the bus than do as they're told, etc. With a handful of kids it's easy, with 10+ kids just make a list and check them off. >
  
  No one else noticed Kevin was missing either. I can see how everyone in the vans would fail to notice. Either van could have had Kevin in it. And the chaos of arriving late to the airport would have distracted, too. And then the adults sat in a different section than the kids. The kids, however, all sitting together should have noticed him not being there. Presumably they all had tickets too, so they should have noticed at the gate. >
  
  Hus ticket was misplaced, so that check didn't work >
  
  His passport and his ticket? I only remember the passport.