VACATION NIGHTMARE

Australian National Airline Qantas Books Baby on Flight Without Parents

The couple spent more than 20 hours on the phone with Qantas Airways trying to book a flight for all three family members, but the airline once again fumbled the booking.

Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways fumbled one family’s European vacation so badly they put the couple’s baby on a separate flight from the parents and then made them wait 12 days to depart, Business Insider reports. The couple told the website that the error was likely made when they had to rebook their flight over the phone through a different airline. They said they missed their flight out of Rome to Amsterdam and then a connecting flight to Thailand, where they planned to stay the night before returning home to Australia, because their 13-month-old was booked on a flight that left 40 minutes after theirs. To add insult to injury, the couple spent more than 20 hours trying to rebook their flight for the three of them as soon as possible, but when Qantas said they rebooked for the next day, a backend error ensured the family had no departing flight that afternoon. "It was so stressful because we didn't know if we were ever going to get home," Stephanie Braham said. Eventually, Qantas put them on a July 26 flight and told the couple they would pay them $200 in Australian dollars a night for the delay.