Jetstar leaves mum in tears after refusing to board toddler
A woman and her toddler were reportedly refused to board a Jetstar flight from Queenstown, New Zealand, because the child was not wearing shoes.
A passenger who witnessed the incident unfold revealed that others offered the family footwear for the youngster but they were still unable to board.
“Just a saw a Samoan mum with two small children refused entry on to a plane at Queenstown airport because her son had no shoes,” wrote Isobel Mebus on Facebook.
“Other passengers offered her son shoes to put on but still she was not allowed to board. Shame on you JETSTAR, really really disgusted.”
According to reports by the New Zealand Herald, Jetstar staff said the offer of footwear from fellow passengers was taken back once they were informed that the child would need to wear them for the duration of the flight and disembarking the plane.
Ms Mebus said she saw the woman exit the gate in tears before people approached staff about the issue.
“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,” she told the Herald.
“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.”
But after the woman’s belongings were taken off the plane, other passengers were forced to deal with delays.
According to Jetstar’s terms and conditions, the airline has the right to refuse a passenger entry if they are not wearing footwear.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Jetstar confirmed the incident. “We were unable to board a family on a flight from Queenstown to Auckland yesterday as a passenger in their group was not wearing shoes,” said a spokesperson.
“We understand this was frustrating for the family however for safety reasons we require all passengers to wear footwear when boarding, while inflight and when disembarking our aircraft.”
They then told the Herald that the family stayed an extra night in Queenstown with relatives and was put on a flight the next day at Jetstar’s expense.
“We arranged for the family to travel on the next available flight at no additional cost,” the spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.