Melbourne boy travelling alone bumped from Etihad flight and stranded in Abu Dhabi

A MELBOURNE father says he is “disgusted” after an airline bumped his child from a flight and left the boy stranded alone in Abu Dhabi overnight.

A MELBOURNE father is “disgusted” by Etihad’s treatment of his 16-year-old son after the boy was bumped from a flight and left alone in Abu Dhabi overnight.

North Balwyn boy Daniel was put on the plane in Belgrade, Serbia by his mother and was to be collected in Melbourne by his father Paul Mizzi.

But instead, the teenager was left stranded in Abu Dhabi because the flight was overbooked.

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A boy has been bumped from an Etihad Airways flight and left alone in Abu Dhabi overnight. Picture: AAP Image, Etihad Airways.

The year 10 Trinity Grammar student was told his second-leg flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne had been overbooked, and he would have to wait for 24 hours for the next plane.

His father Paul Mizzi called customer service from Australia, but was told there was nothing they could do.

“It’s just ridiculous... I just can’t understand how they can do that to a 16-year-old,” Mr Mizzi told the Herald Sun.

“I am actually disgusted by the way they have treated him.”

Ground staff at the United Arab Emirates airport also refused to get the boy back on his original flight.

“I asked Daniel to go to customer service or to tell the ground staff that he was only 16... and he said that they weren’t helpful at all,” Mr Mizzi told 3AW.

Daniel was provided with vouchers for food and a hotel.

He has been booked for a flight leaving early tomorrow (Saturday) morning and his parents hope he is not bumped from the flight again.

@tamsinroses