A woman has claimed that an airline wouldn’t let her take a scheduled flight with her twins due to a rule about air travel with children.
The single parent, Amanda Bailey, shared a recent video on TikTok about the experience days before she and her three-month-old children were meant to board their flight. According to Bailey, Flair Airlines, a low-cost Canadian air carrier, wouldn’t allow her on the flight if it was just her and her children.
“So we are not allowed to fly by ourselves on Thursday, and I’m super disappointed,” she said, while wiping the tears off her face. “I didn’t think I was allowed but after calling Flair and confirming multiple times, they said it was fine. You get your hopes and you’re like: ‘I can do it. I can do it.’ And I’m packed.”
According to the Government of Canada, “the Canadian Aviation Regulations require that no passenger can be responsible for more than one infant” under the age of two. When travelling with children under two, one adult must accompany each child on the plane.
In her video, Bailey said that when she found out that she couldn’t travel with her two children, she also felt she couldn’t ask a friend or family member to join her on the flight because of the cost.
“And flights right now are ridiculous to even ask for somebody to come with me and they won’t honour a price or anything,” she explained. “So it’s just super frustrating and it just, it sucks being a single mom.”
She continued: “Not being able to do the things that you literally do on an everyday basis because of safety, but at the time it’s like, you can’t in a timely manner care for two babies.”
Bailey went on to question Canada’s rule for adults travelling with children under the age of two. “Okay, in a timely manner, how am I gonna be able to care for two two-year-olds, or a two-year-old and a three-year-old?” she added.
The single parent emphasised that not being allowed on the plane “made no sense” to her, especially as her children are still “travelling with a car seat”. She also acknowledged that if her children were two-years-old, she’d “probably still have them in a car seat”.
“To unbuckle them from a convertible car seat to an infant car seat is gonna be no different,” she continued. “My timely manner is gonna be the same. In the event of a fire in my home or in the airport, whether they’re two years old or they’re babies, it’s going to be the same thing.”
She went on to explain that she doesn’t live in “a double parent household,” which means she does “a lot on [her] own” when it comes to caring for her children.
“I’m literally with them 24/7 alone,” she said. “So it’s just super frustrating and I’m so mad that this is happening. And yeah, we’re not happy about it.”
In a second video, Bailey gave an update about the situation, explaining that she ended up cancelling her flight. She noted that she’s going to try to rebook her flight and “fly out at a later date” with another adult to accompany her on the trip. She added that, while she’s “frustrated” about not being able to go on her initial trip, she received a full refund.
As of 28 June, Bailey’s two videos have more than 729,000 views, with viewers in the comments sending her messages of support and offering to travel with her.
“I will go with you,” one person wrote. “I live in California, not sure where we are going, but lets gooo.”
Another said: “Let me know where you’re at and where you’re going! I have lots of flyer miles and love to travel for whatever reason.”
“Momma look at all these people offering to sit with you that might be on your flight! Such an amazing amount of beautiful supportive comments,” someone else wrote.
Speaking to People, Bailey reiterated that she’d checked with the airline about travelling with her children before they told her that she couldn’t get on the flight.
“I felt very frustrated as I did my due diligence to call and book/check with the airline to ensure I was able to fly alone, which they said I could as long as I purchased seats for all of us, or at least one,” she explained.
Bailey also confirmed that she’ll be changing her travelling habits when going on her next trip, adding: “This time, I am bringing someone with me to abide by the rules but I just [feel] overall very defeated knowing I can’t do it alone for two years and it will make visiting my mom so much harder and more costly.”
The Independent has contacted Bailey and Flair Airlines for comment.
