How a 12-year-old flew to Bali by himself
A 12-year-old boy has managed to fly from Australia to Bali after stealing his parent’s credit card and booking a flight with budget airline Jetstar.
News.com.au reports the boy, who gave the fake name Drew during an A Current Affair report, failed in his first two attempts to leave the country, having tried to book a flight with Qantas and Garuda Airlines respectively.
But it was third time’s a charm for the brazen boy, who was somehow able to fly all the way to the Indonesian island, with no questions asked.
Drew’s mother Emma, is reportedly furious he was even allowed to leave the country.
“He just doesn’t like the word no and that’s what I got, a kid in Indonesia,” she said.
“It’s too easy, way too easy. There’s a problem in our system,” Emma added.
Emma and her partner were panic-stricken for four days wondering where their son was until Drew posted a video of himself at a pool in Bali, sharing his location with a friend.
“I was shocked and disgusted, there’s no emotion to feel what we felt when we found out that he’d left overseas,” she said.
Drew’s parents contact the AFP who tracked Drew down to his hotel and took him to the local police station, where he was held for 24 hours before his parents could pick him up.
“I got a hug off Dad but Mum didn’t do anything, she was angry,” the 12-year-old said.
Emma is still coming to terms with how it could’ve happened.
“They’d never done their job. He was never flagged, this shouldn’t have happened. if they’d done their job,” she told the program.
“We are still in shock, we just think how did this happen? Considering we screamed, we begged for help,” she added.
Jetstar reportedly issued a comment to A Current Affair, saying it was putting a new measure in place to ensure a story like Drew’s would not happen again.
What are your thoughts? Who do you think the buck stops with?