In a shocking incident, a 10-year-old boy was left alone at an airport in Spain by his parents who were in a rush to catch their flight. The parents, who have not been identified, reportedly realized they had forgotten to pack the necessary travel documents for their son. Rather than risk missing their flight, they chose to leave their son at the airport terminal, hoping a relative would come to collect him.
The incident came to light through a supposed air-operations coordinator at the airport, known only as Lilian. She shared the story with her 320,000 followers on TikTok, although her account of the events has not been independently confirmed. According to Lilian, the boy informed the police that his parents were en route to their holiday destination.
Lilian further elaborated that the boy was carrying an expired Spanish passport and required a travel visa. As he did not possess a visa, his parents left him at the terminal and reached out to a family member to fetch him. Lilian expressed her shock at the situation, stating that both she and the police found the parents’ actions to be highly unusual.
This incident is not an isolated one. In 2018, a couple in Germany left their five-year-old daughter at Stuttgart Airport, with each parent assuming the other had taken responsibility for the child. More recently, a two-year-old was discovered alone on a luggage conveyor belt at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Lilian, who is also a parent, described the abandonment of the 10-year-old boy as the most “surreal” experience she has encountered in her career at the airport. She expressed her disbelief at how the parents could leave their son at the terminal due to paperwork issues and board their flight without worrying about his safety.
The parents’ luggage was eventually removed from the flight by airport police, and the couple was escorted to the on-site police station for questioning. The current status of the parents, whether they were arrested or not, remains unknown.