A 6-year-old Philadelphia boy headed to Florida to be with his grandmother for Christmas accidentally got placed on the wrong flight by Spirit Airlines. Incidentally, it was the boy’s first flight ever.
“They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight,” the boy’s grandmother, Maria Ramos, told Florida station WINK, recalling her reaction when what was supposed to be his flight landed. “I said, ‘No, he could not miss his flight because I have the check-in tag.'”
“I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, ‘Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?’ She said, ‘No, I had no kids with me,’” Ramos added.
This news left her absolutely terrified, up until something wonderful occurred: The boy, Casper, gave her a ring and told her he’d landed — just not in Fort Myers. Instead he’d landed in nearby Orlando.
Spirit Airlines has since offered to reimburse Ramos for her drive to Orlando, but what she’s seeking are answers, not money.
“I want them to call me,” she told WINK. “Let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando. How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? The flight attendant – after mom handed him with paperwork – did she let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?”
But the airline doesn’t have answers yet, as it’s currently conducting an investigation.
“On Dec. 21, an unaccompanied child traveling from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Myers (RSW) was incorrectly boarded on a flight to Orlando (MCO). The child was always under the care and supervision of a Spirit Team Member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them,” a spokesperson told WINK.
“We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience,” they added.
Critics for their part don’t understand why Casper’s parents had let him fly alone.
Look:
Who lets a 6 yr old fly alone????
— Ivy Adams (@burgcats) December 24, 2023
What the hell was a 6 year old flying alone
— W. Brady (@Icrazyhorse13) December 24, 2023
I never understood how people could put a minor child by themselves on an airplane and then at all blame a bunch of strangers for anything happening to their child… ridiculous it’s not the school bus.
— NikiIsAwesome (@niki91c30) December 24, 2023
Thankfully, stuff like this happens very infrequently. In fact, it appears the last time this occurred was in 2019, when United Airlines placed a 14-year-old on a flight to the WRONG COUNTRY!
“Anton Berg, 14, from North Carolina, was flying to Sweden to visit his grandparents, but his trip was disrupted when United Airlines employees at Newark Airport in New Jersey assisted him in boarding a one-way flight to Dusseldorf, Germany,” People magazine reported at the time.
“Due to Berg being an unaccompanied minor, airline personnel were instructed to escort him to his flight, a service that cost his parents $150. Once onboard a Scandinavian Airlines flight set for Germany, the teen quickly realized something was wrong as the plane was prepared for take off, and alerted his parents, who were back home in Raleigh, N.C.”
“He texted me, because he still was on his phone, ‘There are a lot of people speaking German on this flight. That’s kind of odd, isn’t it?’” the boy’s father, Christer Berg, said. “I said, ‘That is kind of odd.'”
The boy’s mom meanwhile went on a Twitter/X tear:
@United @SAS my son is in the wrong plane!!! EWR you put him on a plane to Germany!!!!
— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019
I can’t get through on any of you phone numbers. He is an unaccompanied minor going to ARN. You probably put another kid in his place who is supposed to go to Germany. The ARN is due to take off any second. The Eurowings to DUS has stopped on the runway. Do something! – call me!
— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019
The good news is that once Anton, the boy, alerted a flight attendant, the plane was turned around and taken back to the terminal so he could get off.
Unfortunately, he missed his original flight, but United Airlines booked him another, and he eventually arrived in Sweden to be with his grandparents.
Prior to this incident, the last time a child was placed on the wrong flight was in 2016, when JetBlue placed a 5-year-old boy who was traveling home to New York from the Dominican Republic on the wrong flight.
“The incident happened Aug. 17 when Maribel Martinez said her son, Andy, was supposed to fly from the Dominican Republic to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York,” ABC News reported at the time.
“When I went to pick up my son, my son wasn’t there,” Martinez said at a news conference. “I was given another boy.”
It turned out that her son had been mixed up with another child who was traveling alone. Long story short, the kids eventually got to their correct destination.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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