Pitfalls of booking Jetstar through Qantas site as boy booted off flight with sister

A family learned the hard way that Qantas and Jetstar have very different ‘unaccompanied minor’ policies.

A Sydney family has learned the hard way that Qantas and Jetstar take very different approaches to “unaccompanied minors”, after their 11-year-old son was marched off a flight to the Gold Coast leaving his sister to travel alone.

Emma Garland booked a Jetstar flight for her son and daughter through the Qantas website in June, and followed up with a call to Qantas customer service to check the 13 and 11-year-olds were able to travel together without an adult.

As the ticket was booked with Qantas, Ms Garland was told the children would be fine to fly unaccompanied to join their parents on the Gold Coast for a family holiday.

After checking in to the flight in Sydney and boarding the aircraft, a Jetstar crew member questioned son Jack about his age, then grabbed him by the arm and told him he would have to disembark.

Ms Garland said he did not understand what was happening and believed he had done something wrong.

“At this point, my son was inconsolable. The Jetstar attendants were treating him like it was his fault,” she said.

“At no time did they tell my daughter what was happening, and they left her on the plane, not knowing where they were taking her brother.”

On the Gold Coast, where she had been working, Ms Garland could barely believe the situation that was unfolding and the separation of her son and daughter.

“By the time Scarlett got to the Gold Coast, she was in a state of shock and horrendously upset,” she said.

Scarlett and Jack Garland were separated on a Jetstar flight from Sydney to Gold Coast because 11-year-old Jack was considered too young to fly on his own. Picture: Courtney King Photography

Ms Garland was able to meet Scarlett’s flight before boarding a hastily booked Virgin Australia service to Sydney, so she could be with son Jack.

“He was effectively left at Sydney Airport. It was only absolute luck my in-laws (who had seen him onto the flight) heard the announcement paging them to return to the gate,” said Ms Garland.

“By the time I got to Sydney, Jack was adamant he was never flying again. He couldn’t stop crying.”

Despite his distressed state, mother and son managed to get on another flight back to the Gold Coast, where the family was finally reunited late that night, 11-hours after the original flight was boarded.

Ms Garland said she was told by Jetstar they would refund all costs but four months later, she was still waiting to see any credit.

“Nor have I had an apology. I regularly call both airlines to try to get a resolution, but I get bounced between Qantas and Jetstar who are arguing who should be paying the refund,” she said.

A Jetstar spokeswoman said the situation was “extremely distressing” and she acknowledged their teams should have handled it better.

“While we enjoy welcoming young passengers on board our flights, Jetstar does not offer an unaccompanied minor service and young passengers must meet certain requirements in order to travel independently with us, including being of secondary school age,” said the spokeswoman.

“A secondary school passenger can travel independently but must be at least 15-years-old to accompany a child under secondary school age.”

She said they were looking into why Ms Garland was not clearly informed of the policy before her son travelled, and would improve processes to ensure the debacle was not repeated.

“We also apologise to Ms Garland for the delay she has experienced in obtaining a refund and can confirm that refunds are being processed for her family’s entire booking,” said the spokeswoman.

Most airlines consider any passenger between the ages of 5 and 11 a “minor” and policies differ on whether they can travel alone.

Virgin Australia requires unaccompanied minors to be booked as such, and restricts travel to direct flights only.

Qantas’s unaccompanied minor policy comes with a $50 supervision fee for domestic flights, and $90 for international.

Rex also charges an additional fee of $44 for unaccompanied minors aged between 5 and 11.