Spirit Airlines mistakenly flew a 6-year-old first-time flier to the wrong airport hundreds of miles away from his original destination during a holiday rush.
Maria Ramos said her grandson Casper was expected to arrive at Southwest Florida Airport in Fort Myers from Philadelphia on Thursday when he flew alone, according to WINK News.
Ramos, however, was horrified when he was told that Casper never got on the plane bound for Fort Myers — only the boy’s bag made it.
“They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight.’ I said, ‘No, he can’t miss his flight because I have a check-in,” Ramos told the outlet.
“I ran into the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, ‘Where is my grandson? He was handed over to you in Philadelphia?’ He said, ‘No, I don’t have any children with me.'”
Casper was sent to Orlando International Airport, which is more than 200 miles north of Fort Myers Airport, where the two family members would meet, the grandmother recalled.
The grandmother was horrified to be told that Casper (not pictured) never got on the plane to Fort Myers. Shutterstock
Ramos was sent on a four-hour drive to pick up the six-year-old, sharing that the massive accident was one of the scariest experiences of his life.
Spirit Airlines has offered to reimburse him for the drive.
Ramos, however, prefers an explanation for the travel accident.
“I want them to call me,” Ramos told the outlet. “Tell me how my grandson ended up in Orlando. How does it happen? Did they remove him from the plane?”
The boy was supposed to be flown to Fort Myers Airport but ended up hundreds of miles away in Orlando. Shutterstock
“The flight attendant after the mother handed him the paperwork. Did he let her go on her own and she jumped on the wrong plane herself?”
In a statement provided to the outlet, Spirit Airlines acknowledged their careless mistake.
“On Dec. 21, an unaccompanied child en route from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Myers (RSW) mistakenly boarded a flight to Orlando (MCO),” said the airline’s spokesman, Michael Lopardi.
“The child has always been under the care and supervision of Spirit Team Members, and as soon as we discovered the mistake, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them.”
“We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all our Guests very seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.”
Spirit Airlines allows unaccompanied minors — who must be between the ages of 5 and 14 — to travel domestically across the US on direct flights.
The significant oversight by the low-cost carrier comes on a day when holiday travel is said to peak, according to the FAA.
On Dec. 21, 2023, nearly 50,000 flights depart around the US, jam-packed with flights during the holiday season.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
