- A mother pleaded with an airport security guard over the phone to take care of her teenage daughter.
- Ainsley Ashton’s daughter was left alone overnight at Dar es Salaam airport after her flight was cancelled.
- She was stuck at the airport for about 24 hours after the transfer desk “forgotten” her.
Ainsley Ashton’s 16-year-old daughter was stuck overnight at an airport more than 3,000 miles away on a flight from Africa to London.
The teenager was flying unaccompanied on August 28 from Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to Heathrow via Doha, Qatar.
Flights with British Airways have been booked through the two Doha stations Kilimanjaro operated by Qatar, its codeshare partner. Insider checked the itinerary from the travel documents.
The flight included a layover in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but the plane went wrong and the passengers had to disembark.
The teen went to the transfer office and was told she would be transferred to the next available flight, but was later informed that she had left without her. “I forgot,” her mother said.
The 16-year-old arrived in Dar es Salaam at 5 p.m., and after that initial exchange with the transportation office, he was left alone, Ashton told Insider.
“No one spoke to her. She reported herself to the transfer office, so they were informed and then she was abandoned. They put her in the transfer office and then packed her luggage and left her at the airport alone.”
At 5:30 in the morning, the only person at the airport was the sleeping security guard. Ashton asked her daughter to wake him up so she could talk to him on the phone. “By this time, obviously I was like, ‘Please take care of my daughter, please take care of my daughter,'” she said.
Ashton said he didn’t understand the situation except for the fact that she was a teenager alone at the airport.
She kept calling customer service in Qatar, only to be told the manager would be on duty after 8am
As soon as I was able to speak to a manager, Ashton’s daughter was put on the next flight to Doha, and then to Heathrow. The experience has left her daughter “shocked” and fears the experience “destroyed her self-confidence”.
The teen went to Africa to volunteer at the International Volunteer Headquarters, work in schools and visit orphanages.
British Airways and Qatar did not respond to an Insider’s request for comment.
“Explorer. Unapologetic entrepreneur. Alcohol fanatic. Certified writer. Wannabe tv evangelist. Twitter fanatic. Student. Web scholar. Travel buff.”
