A teen who was flying by himself alone was removed from an overbooked flight, and his mother said that he was left alone at the gate.
The Guardian reports that Casper Read, 15, was to fly from London Gatwick to Toulouse, France Thursday.
Read had boarded the plane and took his seat when another passenger said that Read was in his spot. Read was told he was the one who would have to get off the overbooked EasyJet flight, The Coventry Telegraph reported.
The teen, who had flown alone only one time prior, texted his mother, who needed help from airport staff members to find her son.
Stephanie Portal was able to convince the airline to allow her son on the final flight from the airport to Toulouse, despite being told that it, along with the three other departures to that location, were all overbooked.
Portal told the Guardian, "It's crazy. They left him alone in departures. Luckily, I had still not got on board my train to London and could come back and find him. If I had not been there I don't know what would have happened - he'd have had no money for the train back or anything."
The airline is investigating why he was permitted to board the flight. A spokeswoman told the Guardian he should have been told at the gate that he was not going to have a seat.
She also told the Guardian that there are procedures in place to help unaccompanied minors but they were not followed this time. That is also being investigated.
EasyJet said it usually doesn’t have a problem with overbooking, and that there are on average, five people who do not show up on every flight.
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