Have credit card will travel – for boy, 12

SYDNEY: Australian police are investigating how a 12-year-old boy managed to fly alone to Bali in Indonesian and spend four days at a resort using a credit card belonging to his parents.

He had run away from his Sydney home after a row with his mother, flying first to Perth on a budget airline and then on to Bali.

“It’s too easy ... way too easy. There’s a problem in our system,” said his mother, Emma, calling for tighter controls on air travel by young people.

The family had previously visited Bali on holiday and Emma said her son had already tried to book flights there on his own but had been knocked back by airlines because he did not have a letter from her.

“When the first attempt to Indonesia took place, we were told his passport was going to be flagged.”

The boy, who “wanted to go on an adventure”, said he was told by airline staff this time that he did not need permission from his parents to board the flights.

During his time in Bali, he checked into a hotel, hired a scooter and drank beer before a friend alerted his mother to a geotagged video of himself at the hotel pool.

The holiday cost his parents A$8,000 (RM24,000), and they had to fly to Bali after local police found him. – AFP