6-year-old Spirit Airlines passenger accidentally flew to Orlando instead of Florida: details of the incident
A 6-year-old boy who was supposed to fly with Spirit Airlines from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport ended up in Orlando by mistake. The child was accidentally put on the wrong flight, while his belongings made it to Florida.
The incident was first reported on the local state news channel WINK News, Simple Flying writes. The journalists managed to talk to the boy's family, but the company limited itself to a dry message confirming the confusion.
The boy was supposed to fly under crew supervision to his grandmother Maria Ramos in southwest Florida for Christmas. It is unclear what happened in Philadelphia, but the child ended up on a plane to a completely different city, 200 miles away from Southwest Florida International Airport.
The grandmother was waiting for her grandson at the airport, but the flight crew told her that the boy had not shown up for his flight.
After a heated dialog, it turned out that the child had not been boarded. Luckily, the airline soon contacted the boy's family and assured them that the little passenger was under supervision and had landed safely in Orlando.
Two family members went to pick up the child from a strange city, and 4 hours later the family was reunited. What is surprising about this story is that the boy's luggage made it to Florida.
According to the grandmother, the airline offered to reimburse her for the trip, but did not answer questions about why the mistake occurred.
In a public statement, Spirit Airlines said: "On December 21, an unaccompanied child traveling from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Myers (RSW) was mistakenly boarded on a flight to Orlando (MCO). The child was always in the care and supervision of a Spirit team member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we immediately took steps to contact the family and reconnect with them. We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family."