Tuesday 15 November 2022 04:26 AM Perth mother suffering panic attacks after Qantas books toddler on separate ... trends now
An Aussie mum who has suffered 'panic attacks' since realising Qantas had separated her from her two-year-old daughter has been forced to complain to the media in order to compel the embattled airline to backflip and seat them together.
Natasha Oswald, a primary school teacher from Perth, and her daughter Winnie were initially booked to fly in December but were forced to bring the flight forward to November 19 when one of their relatives passed away.
Ms Oswald rescheduled their initial flight in August and had been reassured by Qantas staff that she and her two-year-old would be sitting together.
However, just four days out from the long-haul flight, the pair were still booked on separate seats.
Perth primary school teacher Natasha Oswald (pictured) said her two-year-old daughter Winnie is sitting on a separate seat to her on a flight to the UK leaving on Saturday
When Ms Oswald rescheduled her initial flight she was reassured she and Winnie (pictured) would be able to sit together - however just days out from the flight they are still separated
The Perth mother called Qantas to complain, and an operator informed her the airline wasn't legally required to seat her beside her two-year-old.
In a statement, Qantas said the seats had been booked separately because the two bookings were made separately and one month apart.
Ms Oswald told the Daily Mail Australia this was only 'semi-true'.
'I did book both on the same day but due to staff and system failure it took from the 8th to the 25th (of August) for them to finally process payment (after I provided details three times) for Winnie's original flight,' she said.
'Our bookings were supposedly linked so that we were always going to be sat together.'
The Perth mother said she was told by staff the flights had to be made on two separate bookings if she wanted to use a voucher to pay.
'They had to be on two separate bookings as I was told by Qantas that unless I wanted to pay full adult price (around $4500 at the time of original booking) for Winnie I would have to do them separate so I could use my voucher,' she said.
Ms Oswald said that as of 4:30am (AWST) she and Winnie were still separated and that as the flight quickly approaches, her anxiety is getting worse.
'When I was on my second call on Sunday to Qantas (I called twice thinking the first person didn't know what they were talking about) I ended up having a panic attack and had to hang up,' she said.
'The guy
