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The parents of a 14-year-old girl are livid after she was removed from an airplane while traveling alone. Camryn Larkan was traveling home to Victoria, British Columbia, on a Porter Airlines flight after visiting a friend in Toronto.
While Larkan was in her seat waiting for the plane to take off, a flight attendant approached her and said she had to get off the aircraft.
"I was kind of just like really confused," the teen told the CBC. "I thought I was coming back to my seat. I thought that they were just going to take my bags. As soon as I got off the plane and I saw that the door had closed, that's when I started to like get really anxious."
Larkan said that she was told there was a weight imbalance on the flight, and the airline randomly selected passengers to deplane after nobody volunteered to give up their seat.
"I was completely shocked, confused," Larkan's mother, Catherine, said. "I was very worried about her."
Larkan was then booked on another flight 24 hours and sent on her way, leaving her alone at the airport. Luckily, her father was in Toronto and was able to return to the airport to pick her up.
"I'm just glad that my dad was there because if he wasn't, I would have been alone," the teen said.
Catherine told the CBC that she was livid with Porter Airlines for removing her daughter from the flight.
"They put my child in imminent danger," she said. "It was completely negligent, and it shouldn't happen to any other minor."
Porter Airlines explained that the flight attendants didn't know that Larkan was under 18 and said her parents didn't spend an extra $100 to purchase unaccompanied minor service. The airline said it contacted the family to resolve the issue.
"They're providing a service saying we know these people are at-risk and they're saying if you don't [pay for] the service, you're treated as any other adult passenger travelling," Catherine said. "It's just absolutely ludicrous."