Sunday, May 25, 2008

Parents forget kid at airport, fly away

A newly arrived family from the Philippines here did forget their two-year-old son while catching a connecting flight to Winnipeg on Monday.

Since domestic flights in Canada don't allow heavy handbags on international flights, the family - comprising the parents and grandparents of the boy - were forced by Air Canada staff at Vancouver international airport to re-arrange their bag weight.

Having lost a lot of time in re-packing, the family got late in catching the connecting flight to Winnipeg.

In their confusion, they left the toddler behind.

As they ran separately to catch the flight, the parents thought the boy was with his grandparents. The grandparents thought he was with his parents.

This was not detected even when they boarded the plane as the family members were seated separately.

The babbling little boy was found wandering in the departure lounge and then the airport staff searched for his parents.

They brought a Tagalog-speaking airport agent to understand what the boy was saying. Finally, his family was tracked down to Winnipeg.

But by that time, they had landed in Winnipeg. They too realized that the boy was missing only when they came out of the plane.

Air Canada caught hold of the father and flew him back to Vancouver free of cost to pick up his son.


No comments: