Maybe she should have read the conditions?

[Philip76]

She certainly did read the conditions attached to the purchase - all four pages of them - and there was no mention of this.

It all boils down to Qantas wanting to make more money out of child travellers and so charging them adult fares. It would be very simple to add text to the booking page to inform customers that a 14 year-old 'adult' is not allowed to escort a 'child', but to do that would draw even more attention to the high cost of buying an adult ticket for a 14 year-old.

In order to remove any such inconsistencies, Qantas simply needs to increase the child fare age limit to 14 years. How much profit could this possibly eliminate?

 

[dajop]

Babysitting in a home is one thing, having them chaperone the child on a flight is completely different in my view.

TG

Apart from a diversion to another airport and emergency evacuation hazards, there are lot more realisable hazards for a 2-3yo in a typical home than in an aircraft.

 

[NYCguy]

Hi there

What happens if the 14yo is the parent of a 1yo (It happens)

Cheers
DJ737

There may be different conditions for flights from New Plymouth or Palmerston North.

 

[NM]

In order to remove any such inconsistencies, Qantas simply needs to increase the child fare age limit to 14 years. How much profit could this possibly eliminate?

Is there any major airline that sets the child age at anything above 12 years old? I don't believe this policy is unique to Qantas.

By the way, at Disneyland a 10yo has to purchase an adult ticket!

 

[yo yo ma]

It would be very simple to add text to the booking page to inform customers that a 14 year-old 'adult' is not allowed to escort a 'child'...

Common sense should have told her this...

In order to remove any such inconsistencies, Qantas simply needs to increase the child fare age limit to 14 years.

Maybe they could eliminate child fares altogether? I recently took the kids down to Sydney on Jetstar and paid the same price for both kids and adults. They are taking up a seat, so I can't see the problem here.

 

[serfty]

... Maybe they could eliminate child fares altogether? I recently took the kids down to Sydney on Jetstar and paid the same price for both kids and adults. They are taking up a seat, so I can't see the problem here.

"Child" fares (or Child Discounts) don't exist for domestic red e-deals in Oz nor NZ.

 

[Dave Noble]

In the land of logic, given that the 14 year old was accompanied by the 3 year old, then how could either be logically classed as unaccompanied

Dave

 

[Driver]

I have no doubt about who is responsible. The greatest responsibility I have ever taken on in my life has been having someone else's life in my hands. I took on that responsibility when I had children. I've never liked the idea of children caring for children - it is the parents responsibility. I have great respect for the youth in question - he is obviously very responsible (for a 14 year old) and clearly loves and cares for his sibling. However, he should never have been placed in such a position. You can argue the rules and regulations on age limits till you are blue in the face, it won't change my mind on who is responsible for a 2 year old.

 

[medhead]

Not at all. Qantas allows children aged between 12 and 15 to travel either as an individual passenger with no special services, or as a registered unaccompanied minor at the request of their guardian. If not registered as a UM, a 12 to 15 yo child can travel (on an adult fare) as an individual passenger. So the 14yo boy was quite properly permitted to travel alone on the flight. He was not old enough to be considered the supervising adult for a child aged under 12 years old.

Not according to the T&C. Don't you read the bit that I quoted. It is quite explicit.

As for the age cut off of 15 that applies in Aus and NZ.

 

[drron]

All I know is that QF,DJ and JQ have all allocated me a seat at the back of the plane when I have flown unaccompanied and every time I have had a lot of under 15 year olds as my neighbours.The under 4's though have always been with their mothers.
I'm sorry but i just feel the woman was thoughtless.

 

[NM]

Not according to the T&C. Don't you read the bit that I quoted. It is quite explicit.

As for the age cut off of 15 that applies in Aus and NZ.

I am afraid you are not accurately interpreting the bit you quoted from the terms and conditions. Again for reference, here is the bit you quoted:

"Children aged between 12 and 15 years can travel as Unaccompanied Minors only at the request of their parent or guardian. If no request is made, there will be no special arrangements."

The term "unaccompanied minor" has a specific meaning in the airline industry. In the case of the terms and conditions quoted, it is this specific meaning that is used and not a generic term referring to any unaccompanied child.

A child aged between 12 and 15 can travel without an accompanying adult in one of two ways:

• as a registered unaccompanied minor (UM)
• as a regular passenger

If the parent wished the child to travel as a registered UM, then they must register the child as a UM with the airline and generally pay a fee for this service. As a registered UM, the child will be escorted by airline staff to and from the aircraft, through immigration and customs if applicable, and handed over to the registered collecting adult at the destination.

If the parent does not register the child as a UM, then they can travel without an accompanying adult just as any other passenger would be travelling. In this case the airline takes no responsibility for escorting the child to or from the aircraft, or ensuring they are safe and delivered to a connecting flight.

In this example the 14 yo was not registered as a UM so was able to travel alone as a 12-15yo non-UM passenger.

 

[simongr]

Interesting stuff. My nephew (13) and niece (10) are visiting my parents at the end of a big clan meeting in Cyprus. They are flying back on Cyprus Airways and the 10yo is travelling as a UM and the 13yo travelling as an adult. The 13yo can not be allocated a seat next to the 10yo as the 10yo is a UM. Cyprus Airways would not allow a UM ticket to be bought for the 13yo.

 

[KiwiSurfer]

"Child" fares (or Child Discounts) don't exist for domestic red e-deals in Oz nor NZ.

Just did a dummy AKL-CHC-AKL booking on QF NZ website with 1x Adult and 1x Child and it came up with the following fare calculation:-

Total Price = $302.86 * (NZD)
1 adult x 162.00 = $162.00
1 child x 140.86 = $140.86

So looks like they do exist!

- James

 

[Baysider]

While I can understand the airline not allowing the toddler to travel with a 14 year old, their booking system forces you to book the 14 year old as an adult and pay an adult fare. They have to take some responsibility for this issue, as you cannot be a minor and an adult at the same time. One day these guys will have to wake up and learn that they need to have a single clear definition of adult and child across all facets of air travel.

 

[serfty]

This be true now; but was not the case more recently.

 

[kiwitripper64]

The people participating in this forum are regular flyers who take an interest in more than just the light. We are interested in the aircraft, check-in procedures........ ( try telling friends its not geeky)

But looking at it from a different point of view. A woman has a 2 yr old and a responsible 14 yr old in the care of their grandparents in Queentown. The grandparents will safely see them to the airport, and it is a 50 min flight. She will pick them up at Christchurch. Neither airport is big and there is no chance of not finding the correct gate.
She books the tickets on qantas website. There are no obvious indications that it is against the law or against Q policy.

If she had booked kids on the bus ( a 7 hour trip ) would it be legal, would they have been refused passage and would there be media attention?

From Q view, it may be illegal to have person under 15 ( or 16?) accompany toddler on flight. I am not sure of civil avialtion law on this
As mentioned by NM, if flight is diverted can the 14 yr old adequately cope. The alternate news headlines " Qantas Lose Baby after flight diversion" is not a good look.

I can only hope that publicity helps prevent this situation for others and that Q will amend its online booking system to make it very obvious where conflict situations may arise

 

[FPred]

Interesting story. Who would've thought. It's a rather rare case I'd say.