An Australian couple is slamming Qantas Airlines for rebooking their 13-month-old baby on a separate flight.
The biggest question for parents Stephanie and Andrew Braham is one many people are asking: how does this even happen?
“She was on a different flight that departed 40 minutes after ours,” the child’s mother tells Business Insider.
Nine months ago, the couple planned a four-week vacation through Qantas with British Airways. Stephanie says she believes the problem began when she was notified about an issue regarding their connecting flights. They rebooked with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and their daughter was supposed to sit on their lap.
They didn’t know there was an issue until they arrived in Rome from Amsterdam. Their original plan was to spend a day in Bangkok, Thailand, before heading home to Australia.
But instead, they left Europe on July 26, 12 days from their original departure date, because the original flight was too full.
Scrambling To Reunite With Their Child
Getting home became a nightmare and cost the couple a ton of money.
“We spent 20 hours 47 minutes and 13 seconds on the phone to Qantas over a 24-hour period before and over 55 separate phone calls before they finally agreed to book us on new flights home,” Stephanie says.
When you add the additional money from an unplanned stay, food, travel, entertainment, and income from missing work, the couple says they dished out an extra $15,000 Australian dollars.
Qantas told Daily Mail Australia the airline “sincerely apologizes” to the family. The company blames a “backend administrative error” between the airline and its partner KLM for the separating issue.
Qantas has agreed to compensate them for the inconvenience by paying them $200 per night for accommodations, as reported in Business Insider.