A Queensland woman has criticised Qantas after her family missed flights to India for her mother’s funeral and had to pay more than $11,000 for replacement tickets. Ferdous Mohammad said a check-in worker would not let her complete a required health declaration for her twin children before check-in closed, leaving the family unable to board; Qantas has since agreed to refund the original booking.

The family had spent nearly $9,000 on flights from Mackay to Hyderabad after learning Ms Mohammad’s mother was dying, and needed to arrive by 2 August for the funeral. The Ebola health declaration is required before entry to India, though Ms Mohammad said she was only asked to complete a brief form after arriving in Hyderabad on the replacement journey. She has launched a petition seeking better airline staff training for emergency travel situations, while Qantas said the ‘no-show’ status was generated automatically.