Boy upset at losing seat on Jetstar flight
Jetstar is investigating after the mother of a 12-year-old boy travelling on his own complained that he was kicked off an overbooked Jetstar flight.
Ashton Northcott, from Paraparaumu, north of Wellington, arrived for a flight from Auckland to Palmerston North about 15 minutes before check-in closed.
He was told he could not check in online or at a kiosk because he had an exit row seat and was under 15.
Ashton said a supervisor could not reallocate him a seat because the flight was overbooked.
He was told he had not checked in on time and could not board.
Ashton’s mother, Marie Northcott, said she feared the airline might have used Ashton’s check-in delay as an excuse to offload him.
‘‘You book children on a flight in good faith, and the airline does this to your 12-year-old.
‘‘We’ll just avoid Jetstar costs.’’
Ashton caught a flight to Wellington about five hours later instead, for no additional cost.
He said he was surprised by the incident.
‘‘It was really annoying. They were just really mean about it.
‘‘They showed no sympathy or empathy or anything.’’
Jetstar said yesterday: ‘‘We’re looking into this matter and will be contacting staff at Auckland Airport at all to find out what’s occurred.
‘‘We apologise to the family for this experience, and will make contact with the mother directly.
‘‘Thousands of unaccompanied children travel with us and incidents like this are extremely rare.’’
Northcott said the supervisor told her by phone that she should not have booked Ashton as an adult, and the ticket should have been booked via the reservations department.
However, she was told by reservations that someone aged 12 or over could be booked the normal way on the website, she said.
Jetstar’s website says passengers aged 12 and over can travel alone with proof of identification.
Ashton’s family took him to the airport, and he went back to their home before his new flight.
‘‘It’s lucky they didn’t just drop him off,’’ Northcott said.