Missing visa, expired passport… and a vacation at all costs. At the Barcelona airport, a couple headed abroad left their 10-year-old son behind.
The story might be amusing if it weren’t so disturbing…
At Barcelona-El Prat airport, a couple made a decision that was as swift as it was incomprehensible: to abandon their 10-year-old son in the public area of the terminal because his passport had expired… and continue their journey without him.
It was an airline coordinator, Lilian, who revealed the story in a video posted on TikTok, which went viral. Still in shock, she describes what she calls the “most surreal situation” of her career.
The story of Lilian, airline coordinator
Lilian says that everything seemed normal until then: “The flight, passengers, and baggage were all coordinated and in order. We took off on time, pushed back normally, and everything was completely normal. But when I got back to the office, I was told, ‘Lilian, go to the parking lot, the plane has come back because there’s a child in the terminal.’ I replied, ‘But all the passengers were on board!’.
When she arrived at the scene, she saw police officers with the young boy explaining that his parents had boarded the plane and were on their way to their home country for vacation.
“They didn’t want to lose their tickets.”
With the help of the cabin crew chief, the parents were identified: “It was a man and a woman with another younger child.” The explanation left everyone perplexed: “His national passport had expired, so the child was traveling with a Spanish passport, but this required a visa. As they didn’t have a visa, they left the child in the terminal and called a family member to come and pick him up.” And in the meantime, they boarded the plane: “They didn’t want to lose their tickets.”
Lilian confides: “As an air traffic coordinator, I’ve seen a lot, but this was completely surreal.” She adds: “How is it possible that parents would leave their ten-year-old child in the terminal because he can’t travel due to a document problem? They call a relative, but then… they board their flight, calmly, and leave him behind.”
“As a mother, I am stunned”
Lilian emphasizes that both the Guardia Civil and she herself were stunned: “The police took the parents and the other child to the police station in the land zone, where the ten-year-old was. Normal? They thought it was perfectly normal. Obviously, I didn’t think it was normal, and neither did the police.”
After the incident, Lilian had to take care of collecting the luggage: “New loading sheet, search for suitcases. Six suitcases, luckily they were at the door and we didn’t have to search all the holds.”
She concludes her account with an objective but personal statement: “As a mother, I am stunned. I remember when my daughter was little, I would lose her for a second and panic.”
Social media quickly reacted, expressing outrage and concern about the situation.
