Non-ticketed passenger boarding of Juneyao Airlines flight 'not deliberate'

The two adults who boarded a Beijing to Shanghai flight with a child who had no ticket won’t face legal punishment, China’s Civil Aviation Authority said today, because what they did was “not deliberate”.

The group, made up of two adults and three children, were first-time fliers, and assumed that the 4-year-old could fly for free, as is the case with public bus transportation, Li Jicheng, of the Civil Aviation Administration of China told a press conference.

"They didn't commit a crime because they didn't evade buying a ticket deliberately, nor did they have any bad intent," he said.

Beijing airport police educated the passengers and released them later on Sunday after investigation.

Juneyao Airlines Flight HO1252 from Beijing to Shanghai was delayed five hours on Sunday after it was discovered that a passenger without a ticket had managed to pass all security checks and board the flight. Crew on the flight, which was scheduled to take off at 6:55am, only discovered the child just before take-off.

Li said the flight was delayed for 3.5 hours due to bad weather, while the incident caused a further 1.5 hour delay.

A passenger surnamed Song said he witnessed a male adult explaining to crew members that they assumed the youngest child didn’t need a ticket.

"He asked 'can I buy the additional ticket now?', but was refused," Song said.

The five were asked to disembark, while all other passengers were also made to leave the plane and go through security procedures again. The flight eventually took off around noon.

Juneyao Airlines have started the procedure to compensate other passengers on board for the delay, the local carrier said in a statement today.