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2nd August 2025
09:39am BST
A couple have been accused of leaving their young son behind in a foreign airport after discovering his passport was out of date.
According to a viral video — viewed more than 300,000 times —an air traffic controller at Barcelona’s El Prat international airport has claimed the parents ditched their son in the airport before going on to board their flight as scheduled.
They had apparently organised for a relative to come and pick him up.
The 10-year-old was soon discovered by concerned staff who then alerted police.
The parents’ alleged selfish decision led to chaos at the airport.
Police were informed, who the instructed the flight — which had begun takeoff procedures — be delayed until the family could be reunited.
The pilot is then said to have put a call out amongst passengers on the plane, asking if anyone “had left a child in the terminal” and, apparently “no one answered.”
When they were eventually identified, the parents were taken off the plane and brought to the local police station where they were met with their son.
Air traffic controller and TikToker Lilian said: “As a controller, I’ve seen a lot of things, but this has been completely surreal.
“He [the child] told them that his parents were on the plane on their way to their home country, going on vacation.
“I’m amazed to think how parents could possibly leave their ten-year-old son at the terminal because he can’t travel due to documentation issues.
“They call a relative, who might take half an hour, an hour, or three hours, and they calmly board the flight and leave the child behind.
“As a mother, I’m amazed.’
