An Australian mother is demanding explanations after his 12-year-old son flew all the way from Sydney to Bali and stayed four days on the popular tourism island all by himself.
Australian police are investigating the incident.
It was reported that the boy, given the pseudonym Drew, took his mom’s credit card and managed to hop on a Jetstar flight in March from Sydney to Perth, and then boarded the international flight to Bali after his parents declined his idea of the trip.
In Bali, the boy checked in a hotel, rented and rode a scooter, and even drank beer on the beach, before his parents made it to Indonesia to fetch him home from a local police station.
Facing criticisms over her parenting, his mom Emma questioned the system and was furious that his son was even allowed to leave the country in the first place, during an interview with breakfast radio show Nova 96.9 in Sydney.
According to reports, the boy had previously failed twice to get overseas with Qantas and Garuda, since he was not allowed to board a plane.
Emma had asked the Australian Federal Police and Border Force for help and was told that the boy’s passport was flagged.
But after the incident, authorities say they had never flagged Drew’s passport and were unaware of him.
At the same time, Jetstar said new measures will be taken to change the current policy, which allows 12- to 15-year-olds to travel without a parent, to prevent such incidents from happening again.