A nine-year-old boy was compelled to sleep in an airport lounge after his flight was diverted.
John Meredith was flying solo from Brisbane to Sydney to go to his grandparents when his Virgin Australia flight needed to land at Melbourne as an alternative attributable to storms on the east coast.
Regardless of being an unaccompanied minor, John and two different youngsters got pillows and blankets and put up in a gathering room within the Virgin Australia lounge. They had been additionally supplied with cardboard packing containers to play with.
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Melbourne accommodations had been absolutely booked as a result of F1 Grand Prix, leaving 1000’s of passengers stranded on the airport final Thursday.
John’s mom accused the airline of not conserving her knowledgeable of his whereabouts.
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“I couldn’t get onto anybody all evening, I used to be on maintain for an hour or so with Virgin as a result of it was a 1300 quantity,” Katie Meredith instructed information.com.au. “They should have a 24-hour emergency quantity so dad and mom and guardians can get in contact always about unaccompanied minors.”
She added: ”It isn’t a lot about the place he stayed, it’s about not understanding the place your little one is 100 per cent of the time.”
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Ms Meredith described John as a “happy-go-lucky child” however mentioned she would by no means have let him keep on an airport flooring as he’d undergone coronary heart surgical procedure the month earlier than.
She was solely conscious that his flight, attributable to land in Sydney at 9.10pm, was diverted when she checked a flight monitoring app at 11.12pm, having had no communication from Virgin Australia.
Ms Meredith known as her dad and mom, who had been ready at Sydney airport – they’d additionally been unaware of the diversion, regardless of being John’s nominated guardians on the flight reserving.
“They acquired a name at 11.40pm Sydney time to say a Virgin workers member can be receiving John when his aircraft arrived,” she mentioned.
Katie Meredith positioned her son at Melbourne airport utilizing a monitoring app (Melbourne Airport)
“At 12.15am, they known as to say John was going to a resort and the youngsters had been having a snack of McDonalds, and we’ll name you tomorrow.
“My mom mentioned, ‘No, I wish to know the place you’re taking him, please let me know’, which they agreed to. After which we didn’t hear something once more till 2.30am after they mentioned, ‘John’s OK, right here’s his new flight particulars’.”
John’s mom was compelled to substantiate his whereabouts utilizing the Discover My Telephone tracker, linked to his iPad, which confirmed him to nonetheless be in Melbourne airport.
Ms Meredith mentioned she desires the airline to research the incident in order that it doesn’t occur once more in future.
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A Virgin Australia spokesperson apologised for any “breakdown in communication”. They instructed The Unbiased: “In instances of climate disruption, we do our greatest to accommodate company onto different flights or present lodging when their flights have been diverted.
“We take the utmost care when transporting unaccompanied minors and intention to make sure their nominated guardians are conscious of any developments as they come up.
“On this occasion, our floor crew supervised the kid and made him as snug as potential in a room in our Melbourne Airport Lounge forward of his flight the next morning.
“We apologise for any breakdown in communication between our crew and the kid’s guardian in the course of the course of the night.”
