An 11-year-old boy who was travelling on a plane without an adult was kicked off and left stranded at the gate in what his mother described as "a parent's worst nightmare".
Jack Garland was due to travel with his 13-year-old sister Scarlett and his dad from Sydney to the Gold Coast in Australia for a long weekend.
A last minute work emergency saw the dad unable to make the trip, so the siblings' mother checked whether the children would be able to take the one hour, 20 minute flight together without an adult.
Mum Emma Garland said she called Qantas, who own low-cost carrier JetStar, to make sure the 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old could travel on the domestic flight.
The mum claims once they had boarded the plane together, Jack was removed with no explanation given to his sister who was told to remain on board.
“It was one of the most horrendous days of our lives as a family,” Ms Garland told Australia's Channel 9 Today Show.
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“Just the fact that Scarlett and Jack were flying on their own for the first time was stressful enough, then to get the call from Jack saying he had been taken off the flight and he didn’t really understand why – he was just beside himself.”
She said it was a “parent’s worst nightmare”.
While Jack was removed from the flight, Scarlett was unable to get off and their mother claims no one informed her of what was happening.
Ms Garland added: “By the time she got to the Gold Coast she was beside herself not knowing what had happened to her brother,”
The airline apologised and said it is investigating why the family was misinformed about its age restriction policy prior to the flight.
“We sincerely apologise to Ms Garland and her family for the extremely distressing situation,” a spokeswoman said.
“While we enjoy welcoming young passengers on board our flights, Jetstar does not offer an unaccompanied minor service and young passengers must meet certain requirements in order to travel independently with us, including being of secondary school age.
“A secondary school passenger can travel independently but must be at least 15 years old to accompany a child under secondary school age.
“We also apologise to Ms Garland for the delay she has experienced in obtaining a refund and can confirm that refunds are being processed for her family’s entire booking.”
