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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Kaitlin Easton & Rachel Hagan World News Reporter

Couple leave baby at Ryanair check-in desk in row over paying for extra seat

A mother and father were arrested at an airport for leaving their baby at a check-in while they boarded a flight.

The Belgian passport-holding parents tried to board a plane at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv but left their baby - who was not in possession of a ticket - behind.

Stunned airport staff at the Israel airport alerted police when the parents then attempted to board a Ryanair flight to Brussels in Belgium without their child, instead of trying to buy an extra ticket.

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The infant was instead left in a carseat as the couple strolled to passport control. After staff told police they immediately kept the parents for questioning, the Mirror reports.

The manager of the Ryanair desk said: "We've never seen anything like this. We couldn't believe what we were seeing."

According to the Airport Authority, the couple arrived late to Terminal 1 and the check-in counter for their flight had closed.

They wanted to go through to deal with security and leave their baby on the conveyor belt in the area.

People travelling with a child can either buy a separate seat at a standard adult fare or pay around £25 for a lap seat, said Ryanair.

Footage of the incident shows stunned check-in workers when the very small baby was found inside a car seat after moving a blanket.

The authorities said that a shift manager, which handles services at the airport, "took the couple back to the flight counters to take the baby and called the police and a security guard. The couple took the baby back."

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