Having recently gone through Ben Gurion security, I can understand how they would be disoriented, stressed out and prone to losing things/children. Every single bag I had was scanned, searched and partially unpacked (very common in Ben Gurion), and I only had three.

LB, London,

You'd be wise to show this family some compassion, as you'll probably be judged by your own yardstick some day. Nobody's perfect, not even you.

Jen, Virginia Water, UK

Enough comments about the "Orthodox" having too many kids to keep track off - just a generation or two ago a family of seven would have been seen as rather small. Can you imagine trying to get all the Waltons through security and on an airplane?? It would be chaos, as I am sure this was.

Debbie, Pennsylvania, USA

what a shame! this probably confirms my long held suspicion that some parents value their possessions more than these wonderful and innocent gifts from the Almighty God. However it may have been a simple genuine mistake... Thank God for the happy ending. Poor little darling...

madam brenda, lagos, nigeria

So when check-in staff hand over six boarding cards for six pasengers, and then the parents show six boarding cards for five passengers to gate control.. nobody actually pays attention????

Dufuss, London,

I wouldn't travel with any airline that will allow a passengers luggage to travel without them..

I thought it wasn't allowed.

Phil, Rugby, England

And I thought Tel Aviv was the most security aware airport in the world. A plane should not take off without a checked in passenger, especially with the family bags on board. It is the airline who should be prosecuted.

Keith Grainger, Northampton, UK

Limiting the number of children allowed in families is not the answer... testing want-to-be parents but anyone whos fails wouldn't be allowed to have kids!

Christopher, London, UK

H Horse - its not your world alone for you to dictate how many children one can have. What sort of dictatorship are you running for?

Terry, London, United Kingdom

Who are all the critics to judge this family ? Do you know them ? Are you in any way qualified to comment on their parenting ability ? Are you absolutely, 100% perfect yourselves ? NO, you're not, so keep your self-righteous, judgemental, holier-than-thou opinions to yourselves.

Tony, Peterlee, UK

I bet that the parents are just relieved that nothing happened to thier daughter during the time she was wondering round, the world is not a nice place, people make mistakes and sometimes unplesant consequences are the result (ie maddie). I am thankful we aren't reading a different ending.

chrissi, colchester, esex

i agree with michelle from Devon, i have four offspring and its not easy trying to keep them altogether. You don't know a mothers role until you've walked in her shoes.

carol, lincoln,

Personally I can't understand how this could have happened but I think it is wrong to condemn the parents if their children are normally well cared for. We were once asked to leave a plane because someone who had checked in had not boarded the flight. Isn't that what normally happens?

Vonnie, Manchester, England

Remind me never to take my kid to Ben-Gurion airport. They lose more than luggage there.

If anything, I'd say someone is getting a pony for her birthday.

angrymongo.blogspot.com

Mongo, Pittsburgh,

the parents must have felt terrible.unbelievable 2 some people but believe me i have 6 children and doing something which involves taking all the kids out together is sooooo stressfull and exstremally confusing.just an embarrasing accident on there part.

michelle, devon, england

This may not be the first time they've left her or one of the siblings behind. The kids should be taken away from them...
sameena.

Sameena Nessa, Walsall, uk

Lots of people finding this funny... Believe me, its not funny to the child that was left behind...I couldn't believe that these people forgot their child behind even if they had 18 suitcases. By the way, whats the connection ? Luggage is checked in way before boarding the flight...

John Taylor, London,

I want to know why they had 18 suitcases.
Dawn, New Mexico

Dawn Provencher, La Luz, USA

this reminds me of home alone!. lol.

vish, bes,

> My parents left me behind a couple of times when I was a child - fortunately not in a strange place nor for very long - more an irritation than a fright.

Jan Combs, Wichita, KS, USA

Unless you've walked a mile in a person's shoes, you should save your 2 cents for the parking meter.

This is highly unfortunate, but in the realm of international travel things do not run the way they do in the United States, security wise.

It's easy to point fingers, and harder to be empathetic.

PT, Austin, TX, USA

Mr/Ms Horse - what of the French father of one who left their child in a hot car by mistake? All parents, regardless of the number of children they have, make mistakes sometimes. Fortunately, in almost all cases, the consequences are not too serious and serve only as a timely reminder.

NPE, London,

When I took my two sons (8 and 10) to Crete by myself, I simply kept my eye on them all the time. I remember on a German railway station I walked about 20 paces to a telephone and a man start talking to them. He veered off when I approached, so I never found what he was up to.

Kevin Straw, Leicester,

I guess I would also have ben judgmental about this if I could not recall once having found my two year old, and deeply loved daughter on the wrong side of the street, having tricicled across all by herself.

jim cormick, buenos aires, argentina

Small kids wander off quite frequently. She may have just wandered off at the wrong moment while they were rushing to the gate.

Ashley, FR,

This proves how it is important family sit together in airplane. I know my children had to be separated in singles or double. Would not seat us together. Maybe that is what happened here. I know it is hard to believe about not a head count, or has others said when all tickets turned in.

joanne , Geneva ny, us

For those not familiar with the process, in Europe most, if not all, non-transcontinental flights are open seating . People miss flights all the time so there is no 'head count' . Then too, 7 seats in a row? Hardly. Seats were split into 2 or 3 sections for family. Easy to assume child was elsewhere

Charles, Bel Air,

Hey. Non-intercontinental flights often have 'open seating'. Open or not there would be at least one aisle between family members. Adults miss flights all the time and flights overbooked, ergo no matching of sold tickets to boarding. A small child at the gate gets turned around? Not even news.

Charles, Bel Air, USA

And now watch below for the self-righteousness of people who apparently never forget anything regardless of the situation...

Andy, Singapore,

I learned my lesson about judging parents of lost children when I was about twelve years old and I saw a toddler about one year old walking down the street all by herself. I was certain that the parents must not care about her...until I saw the father - he was searching for her and very upset.

Arlene, Twin Cities, USA

What a judgemental society we live in, we always feel we know best and indeed make comments. It drives me mad!!! until you are in certain situations yourself, how the hell can you judge?!

Michele, Oakham, England

That's a great example of the airport security system, isn't it? They didn't seem to realise that there were seven tickets but only six people. And how typical of our times that the family might be charged with "negligence". It happened. It was an accident. Unfortunate, but nevertheless an accident.

Franziska, Sevenoaks,

Lisa, Fargo, How is "the joys and pains of having a family" connected to the lack of responsibility for your children?

irene, London,

Jesus, this outpouring of bile and venom is shocking. You're basing the competence of the parents on this one isolated incident. We don't know how competent they are, but I don't think its right to brand them 'inacapable' and 'neglectful' because of this incident.

joss, uk,

Well, at least their 18 suitcases were and accounted for by the parents and loaded safely.

Breeding like rabbits and acting like them is unfortunate.

Ira Wise, ny, us

Seems to me, Mary and Joseph mislaid Jesus. All good people, as I recall.

Marilyn Ridout, Richibucto, Canada

The little girl wil be just fine - and in a few years she will have a funny story to tell on her folks. Grace, people, grace! Evidently this once incident was not characteristic. Children wander quickly. After having all buckled in, one of mine got left at church-he wriggled out while I got in!

Caral, Ventura, USA

Bottom line, the airline people should have noticed that there are more tickets being presented than the number of people. The number of tickets should balance to the number of people inside the airline before taking off. What if there were more people than tickets? Would that be overlooked , too?

Lynne, Murrieta,CA, USA

busier counting the lost of money if missing plane than counting their children.....

luis, galway., ireland.

a bit forgetful, but why did the captain take off without checking all passengers were on board ? standard security procedure isn't it

martin, winchester, england

It's an easy mistake to make in the last flurry of activity in boarding a flight. They must have died a thousand deaths in remorse once they had been informed. They deserve sympathy and understanding not the threat of the thought police upon their return, not to mention the media, as usual.

Uncle Eddy, High Wycombe, UK

This is not new in the Orthodox community. They have far too many kids to look after properly.

Peter, London,

Are these people like stupid? Hello! They left a child! And I hope they do get charged! You never leave a child! SHEESH!

Diane, Tampa,

What astounds me is how they managed to have 18 suitcases between them.

A normal kid can easily spend three weeks in the summer with a swimsuit, shorts, and a few t-shirts, and maybe something for the restaurant.

18 suitcases already says, "way unbalanced" to me!

iain, bedford, uk

ah come on - it happens - we had only one and left him asleep under the pew at church when he was just 2 or 3 - I thought Dad had gotten him - When I got home as I walked in the door dad said, "Where's the baby"

Funny we both went BACK to get him - He graduates this year class Val - with honors

Tammy, Arkansas, USA

This isn't a piece of luggage. This is a 4 year old child. I can accept mistakes when an inanimate object is forgotten, not when a family doesn't make very sure that all of their children are safe with them at the airport.

Julie, Nanaimo, Canada

How can you mis place a child!
Did she not have her own boarding pass? If so, how was it not noticed at the gate that there was one less in the party, either by the parents or the airline attendant.

Rob Hills, London, England

Is it just me or are the passengers counted before a flight takes off to ensure all passengers are on board? Maybe it's done with ticket scanning but even then you need to show your passport to match the ticket do you not?seems to be parents, siblings, airport staff, and airline staff didn't notice.

Caoimhe, Derry City,

Give them the benefit of the doubt. Rushing to catch a plane, going through security, one adult think the other is watching. No one is perfect all the time. Things happen!! Have their background checked out when they get home, if its ok, live and learn.

Winston Smith, Lake Zurich, IL, USA

That kind of things happen. It's very similar to parents forgetting their children in the car or losing them in a supermarket. Obviously they'll have learnt their lesson and never forget her again.

And the kid won't be traumatized.

Thomas, Paris, France

What an amazing list of comments. Must be a bunch of perfect people. More likely they never had kids and are cluless to the joys and the pains of having a family. Those of us with kids (and have gone through the airports with them) can empathize. BTW - parents with one kid make mistakes, too.

Lisa, Fargo, USA

In these days of high security at airports, the airline didn't notice? Incredible.

Ross, Herts, UK

Just imagine how bad this could have been. Having a family is like everything else in life, you should be careful and plan your activities with care. If you don't allow sufficient time to get a four year old onto a plane with you what else could go wrong?

Lynn, Bristol, UK

Have as many children as you want providing that you can a) look after them, b) support them without relying on the state and c) give them equal love and attention. These parents were clearly utterly incapable of looking after their children between them.

Lara, London, UK

I hope the parents don't have more children since they seem to be incapable of looking after their current large brood. It beggars belief that the parents had to be told that their youngest child was missing AFTER the plane had taken off! Their neglect could so easily have resulted in tragedy.

Anna, Isle of White, England

Ludicrous to suggest that having five children was the reason this happened. BTW - "not acceptable" to who? The tenents of my Christian faith tell me (and indeed the Jewish faith as well) to be fruitful and multiply. As long as I can support them, who are you to tell me how many kids I can have?

Roger Thompson, Slough,

The incident will have an emotional impact on this little girl because she will have felt abandoned. What were these parents thinking when boarding the plane? Were they walking ahead of their children and how could they not be checking on their youngest, very bizarre!

m, london, uk

Should not have had such a large number of children, any more than 2 is not acceptable in such an overcrowded world.

H Horse, jersey, uk