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Comment by V-2 | Hacker News Reader

It appears to stem from wrong translation:

"The incident occurred due to a simple flaw in the programming of the IT system, which was due to the meaning of the title ‘Miss’ being interpreted by the system as a child and not an adult female. This was because in the country where the system was programmed, Miss is a child and Ms is an adult female."

Not sure what the country in question is - the report doesn't name it.

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A friend of mine mentioned she had this problem with US domestic carriers - this was maybe 20 years ago!

She used "Miss" to say unmarried female. Her ticket was for unaccompanied minor.

I assume the UK, since the location is given as Birmingham Airport and it's a British-registered plane.

Okay but that literally isn't a social convention that holds in the UK.

Nope. That assumption is wrong.

> The system programming was not carried out in the UK, and in the country where it was performed the title Miss was used for a child, and Ms for an adult female, hence the error.

That seems correct though - Miss is the appropriate title for a under 18y old.

In what country is Miss used for under 18 and Ms. for over? In the US and UK, Miss just means "unmarried woman" no matter the age. So yes, its appropriate for an under 18y old, but its also appropriate for an over 18 year old.

I cannot quite exclude another idea, that the age-related framing of the mistake is simply a cover-up for a much more prosaic error, perhaps of embarassing quality.

"Cultural differences" is an easy scapegoat.

Yes, but you wouldn’t choose to use Ms. for a 8-year old.

So if you’re presented with Ms. and Miss as options in a form, and neither has to do with marriage status, it’s natural that Miss will refer to the young.

Dr. Doogie Howser would slip right through the cracks of your system.

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