(RightWing.org) – A bungle by an airline sent a six-year-old boy to the wrong city — leaving his grandmother waiting for him. Spirit Airlines accidentally put the boy on the wrong flight; the mistake was only discovered when he managed to call his grandmother. She then had a four-hour drive to collect him.
On December 21, six-year-old Casper was due to fly from Philadelphia to Fort Myers to meet his grandmother, Maria Ramos. Unfortunately for him, Spirit Airlines got the destination wrong and boarded him on a flight to Orlando instead. That left Mrs Ramos waiting at the gate while her grandson was at another airport 160 miles away. When he failed to appear she became anxious and asked a flight attendant where he was. To her horror, the flight attendant replied “No, I had no kids with me.”
Luckily, Casper quickly realized he was in the wrong city and called Ramos, who drove up to collect him. Spirit has said it will reimburse her for the four-hour drive, but she isn’t satisfied with that response. She says she wants to know how her grandson ended up on the wrong flight after his parents handed him over to the airline in Philadelphia. She asked, “How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?” So far she hasn’t had any answers.
Spirit has apologized for the incident, saying it takes passenger security seriously and is investigating the incident. Of course, the outcome could have been worse. Although the mistake was worrying for Mrs Ramos, at least Casper ended up in the right state. In 2019 United Airlines managed to put an unaccompanied child on a flight to the wrong country, sending him to Germany instead of Sweden. While the situation was resolved easily enough, it shouldn’t have happened at all.
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