Court finds Air Astana guilty for abandoning child in Turkish airport

A court in Kazakhstan has ruled Air Astana must pay 2 million tenge (approximately $4,000) in compensation to the mother of a child who was abandoned for two days at an airport in Turkey, attorney Danilkhan Shagatayev posted on Telegram.

The incident occurred in December last year. A 10-year-old Kazakhstani citizen was traveling from Almaty to a football training camp in Antalya, Turkey. Upon arrival at the airport, he was unable to pass through border control as he couldn’t find his passport. As a result, the boy was sent to a detention room, where he was held alone for two days. Although the unaccompanied minor service had been paid for in advance, Air Astana representatives abandoned the boy anyway. What made the situation even worse was that no one was allowed to access the underage passenger, as the incident took place in a transit zone. In response, the air carrier stated that passengers must keep track of their documents and belongings on their own.

«The airline defended its position by stating that every passenger is responsible for watching their own documents. In turn, we contested that claim, arguing that a minor cannot be assigned any responsibility. Furthermore, it was proven that at the time the child was handed over to the airline’s staff and boarded the plane, all required documents were in his possession,» Shagatayev elaborated.

According to him, witnesses were examined during the trial, including flight attendants and Turkish ground service employees.

The court found that the air carrier had failed to duly fulfill its obligation to verify the availability of the unaccompanied minor’s documents, which led to the boy arriving at border control in Turkey without his passport.

«All these things considered, the court ordered the payment of 2 million tenge [around $4,000] as compensation for financial losses related to purchasing new tickets and applying for a new passport, as well as for moral damages. The ruling has not yet entered into force,» the attorney said.

In January, Air Astana was involved in another incident. Due to a lack of coordination between the airline and Almaty Airport services, a five-year-old girl named Insaf — who was in critical condition — did not receive the necessary assistance upon disembarking and passed away in February. The court ordered the air carrier to pay 5 million tenge (approximately $10,000) in compensation to her relatives.