A 14-year-old girl was abandoned alone at a French airport when a British Airways flight took off without her, despite knowing that the girl was in the departures area. The airline then told her parents that she would need a new ticket for about £1,200, roughly $1,600.

Girl Abandoned Alone at a French Airport

The 14-year-old girl was supposed to fly back home after visiting her cousin in France. After she arrived at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France, she was checked in and was waiting in front of Gate 54 which was printed on her boarding pass.

However, when she asked airport personnel about her flight, she was informed that her flight had already departed from Gate 52 which was 50 meters away.

She was considered a no-show, despite already having checked in for the flight. In a letter sent to The Guardian, her parents said that: 

"She was shouted at by airport staff as she tried to get back through passport control and security, and was in floods of tears. No one offered her any support."
 

Fortunately, the girl's cousin was able to pick her up from the airport as her parents worked to rearrange her flight. This is when British Airways requested the parents to buy a new ticket for £1,200 (roughly $1,600). This ticket price was lowered to £680 after the parents complained to the airline.

British Airways and Toulouse-Blagnac airport claimed that they had made several announcements regarding the gate change, and even informed the fact to those that were already waiting at Gate 54, where the girl was also waiting for the flight. The departures board also reflected the new information on its screens. However, as the girl did not have much experience flying, and also possibly wearing headphones, she was not able to understand that a gate change had occurred.

British Airways is not legally at fault, as the girl was identified as a regular passenger according to their operation rules. Being 14 years old meant that she was just above the minimum age for traveling alone. Also, British Airways does not have an accompanying service, as opposed to other major airlines such as Korean Air and Lufthansa. It actually operated such service called BA Skyflyer, but the program was shut down in 2016, and the minimum travel age was raised from 12 years old to 14 years old.

Similar Incidents

While not common, there were similar instances of minors being left alone at airports. 4 weeks ago on August 30th, another 14-year-old girl was involuntarily removed from a Porter Airlines flight from Toronto to Victoria. Porter Airlines later announced that some passengers were removed due to weight imbalance and said that they would not have removed the girl from the flight if they knew she was an unaccompanied minor. In this case, just like the Toulouse case, her father who lived in Toronto was able to pick her up.

While Porter Airlines does have an accompanying service for unaccompanied minors, as the girl was 14 years old, she was not required to use the service (which is mandatory only for 8-to 11-year-old children). The child's mother stated that she didn't even know Porter Airlines had such a service, and did not opt for it.

It is unknown why Porter Airlines was not able to recognize the girl as an unaccompanied minor in the first place.