Kicked off as boy had no shoes

AUCKLAND: A mother and her two young children were booted off a Jetstar flight because her toddleraged son did not have shoes on.

A witness said staff at Queenstown Airport still refused to let them on board despite another passenger giving the boy a pair of shoes.

However, Jetstar said the passenger who offered the shoes quickly retracted the offer after learning the child would have to wear them for the duration of the flight and when disembarking the plane.

Wairarapa woman Isobel Mebus was left shocked and angry after witnessing the incident about 4pm on Wednesday.

Ms Mebus said she was waiting to board her Air New Zealand flight to Wellington when she noticed the woman come out from the gate crying.

‘‘There was an older Samoan couple behind me and she was explaining to them that she wasn’t allowed on the flight because her son didn’t have shoes on.

‘‘So people started rallying around and the older couple said, ‘Well, we’ll just go and buy him some shoes’ because the mum didn’t have any money on her.

‘‘Then a woman passenger came up with a pair of shoes and put them on the boy and said, ‘There you go’ and they still wouldn’t let him on.’’

Ms Mebus said the Jetstar staff continued to refuse to let the young family on board, and instead ordered their baggage be taken off the plane, which caused delays and disruption to the many other passengers waiting to fly out of Queenstown.

She said she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

‘‘She was really beside herself and crying and it was really awful. I was furious.

‘‘The thing is, they did resolve the issue because the child did have shoes on but were still turned away.’’

Jetstar’s terms and conditions state it has the right to refuse a passenger if they are not wearing footwear.

Air New Zealand online conditions state the same.

However, Ms Mebus said she couldn’t understand why the Jetstar staff were being so stubborn.

‘‘First of all it was a little boy and other passengers had offered to carry him on. He was only like 4 or 3, and they just didn’t even try to resolve it. They just turned the poor woman away after having paid for her flight.’’

Ms Mebus said she felt sorry for the woman and was interested to know what happened to her as the last she saw, the woman was in tears leaving the gate.

‘‘I did think to catch her name but she was so upset.’’

Adding to the problems was the delay to the other flights, including Ms Mebus’ flight to Wellington, which was held up for 21 minutes while the family’s luggage was taken off.

‘‘It was just absolutely ludicrous. They could have let them on so easily because they were given shoes,’’ Ms Mebus said.

A Jetstar spokesman confirmed the family of three were unable to board the flight because the boy did not have shoes.

The spokesman said the family stayed another night in Queenstown with relatives before being put on another flight to Auckland yesterday morning, at the airline’s expense. — The New Zealand Herald