'I thought he was with you...!'

Being left behind at the airport was a traumatic introduction to life in Canada for one new immigrant. A series of errors meant a 23-month toddler was left behind at the airport gate when his parents arrived in Canada from the Philippines and had to race for a connecting flight. The boy's parents both believed he was with the other parent or grandparents – and because they weren't seated together on board, neither realised the child was missing.

Airport staff found the child wandering around near the departure gate and contacted the parents on board the plane. The youngster's father Jun Parreno then had to travel back 1200 miles to pick up his missing son.

Apparently the family had been running for the flight when they were separated. As the 23-month-old was going to be sitting on one of his parents' laps, he wasn't issued a boarding pass and so didn't show up as a missing passenger before the flight took off. 'Air Canada took good care of him,' Parreno told the local paper. 'I'm grateful.'

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