Couple Leaves Baby At Airport Check-In Desk To Avoid Paying For Extra Ticket
That's one way to save money.
NicoElNino / Shutterstock / Youtube Flying is already expensive enough, and many of us may have to sacrifice one or two items while traveling to avoid paying the additional fees of checking bags or having to buy that extra seat.
However, most of us would never think to ditch our children if it meant we would have to spend less.
Well, airport staff at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport encountered a couple who did just that on Tuesday, January 31, and were left dumbfounded.
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A couple left their baby at the check-in desk after they were told they would have to pay for an extra seat for him.
The incident occurred at the check-in desk for the airline, Ryanair, in an Israeli airport. The couple was flying with Belgian passports from Tel Aviv to Brussels, Belgium.
They had not booked a seat for their infant and were told by staff that they had to purchase an additional seat for him on the flight.
Instead, the parents decided to leave the baby in his stroller at the check-in desk while they continued on to passport control and through security.
A bystander captured the unsupervised infant on her cellphone camera, and can be heard saying in Hebrew, “she left him there, I swear!”
“We’ve never seen anything like this. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing,” one airport staff member told local news source K12.
A Ryanair spokesperson commented on the incident. “These passengers traveling from Tel Aviv to Brussels presented at check-in without a booking for their infant,” they said. “They then proceeded to security leaving the infant behind at check-in.”
According to Ryanair’s website, "infants can be included in a flight reservation during the online booking process."
There is an additional charge for infants traveling with their parents even if they are seated in a parent’s lap. A separate seat must be bought if the parents wish to leave their infant in their car seat during the flight.
An Israeli Airport Authority confirmed to CNN that the unidentified couple had been late arriving on their scheduled flight, after the check-in counter had already closed, and appeared to be in a rush to make it through security in time.
Staff members chased the couple down and urged them to take their baby with them before notifying airport security and the police.
The parents were taken into questioning by police and reportedly did not make their flight.
"The check-in agent at Ben Gurion Airport contacted Airport Security, who retrieved these passengers, and this is now a matter for local police,” the spokesperson for Ryanair confirmed.
It is unclear whether the couple will be facing charges at this time.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.