The Kazakh airline Air Astana has lost an appeal in a lawsuit filed by a 12-year-old passenger from Uralsk, Zere Galiyeva, who was left alone at Astana Airport due to the company's failure to register her boarding pass.
Report informs via Kazakh media that, on July 20, twin sisters Zere and Zaure Galiyeva were returning from the United States to Uralsk with a layover in Astana. However, during check-in, employees of FlyArystan (a subsidiary of Air Astana) only registered one of the sisters, leaving Zere without a boarding pass.
Despite promising to resolve the issue, FlyArystan staff left the child at Astana Airport as the plane departed for Uralsk. Zere was only able to fly the following day, unaccompanied by an adult.
During the appeal hearing, Air Astana representatives acknowledged their oversight but requested that the moral compensation to the girl's mother be reduced from 5 million tenge (approximately $10,500) to 1.5 million tenge. However, the court disagreed with the defendant's arguments.