- A baby boy was ditched by his parents at a check-in counter at a Tel Aviv airport, authorities said.
- The parents arrived late for their flight and did not have a ticket for the infant, CNN reported.
- The couple then raced off to try and board a Ryanair flight, the Israeli Airport Authority said.
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A baby boy was ditched by his parents at a check-in counter at a Tel Aviv airport after they arrived late for their flight and did not have a ticket for the infant to travel, Israeli authorities said.
The unidentified parents who held Belgian passports left their baby behind in a carrier on Tuesday inside Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israeli Airport Authority told CNN.
“A couple and an infant with Belgian passports arrived for a flight at Terminal 1 without a ticket for the baby,” the Israeli Airport Authority said, according to the report.
The agency added: “The couple also arrived late for the flight, once the check-in for the flight was closed.”
The parents then “left the infant seat with the baby and ran toward the security checks at Terminal 1 in an attempt to reach the boarding gate for the flight,” according to the Israeli Airport Authority.
A spokeswoman for Ryanair told Insider that the couple “presented at check-in without a booking for their infant.”
The parents then headed for the security line, “leaving the infant behind at check-in,” after they did not have a booking for the baby.
It is unclear whether the parents were unable to purchase a ticket for the baby or did not want to.
“The check-in agent at Ben Gurion Airport contacted Airport Security, who retrieved these passengers, and this is now a matter for local police,” the airline the spokeswoman told Insider.
The infant was ultimately reunited with the parents by the time police arrived on the scene.
“The baby was with the parents and there’s no further investigation,” a spokesman for Israel Police told CNN.
The incident apparently left Ryanair staffers stunned.
“All the workers were in shock. We have never seen anything like that. We didn’t believe what we were seeing,” a Ryanair manager told local news outlet N12.
The parents never boarded the flight, according to Israel Hayom.
The Israeli Airport Authority did not immediately return a request for comment by Insider on Wednesday.
