A couple who had intended to fly from Los Angeles to Dakar, Senegal, ended up 7,000 miles away in Dhaka, Bangladesh, because of an airline error. Sandy Valdivieso and her husband Triet Vo, 39, told the Los Angeles Times that they didn't think anything was amiss when they got their Turkish Airlines boarding passes for their flights from Los Angeles to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. Their passes had them going from LAX, the airport code for Los Angeles International Airport, to IST, Istanbul, to… (www.usatoday.com) More...
I have always asked myself why the baggage gets lost but never the passengers... I have dreams of my bags going to any airport while I was sent by mistake to Paris... Unfortunately it never happened to me!
"But he's never heard of an airline sending passengers to completely wrong continents"
It has happened several times that Passengers ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, qhen they intended to Fly to Sydney in Australia. So not that uncommon really... As posted before, there are enough examples (Oakland/Auckland; London, ON/London; Fayetteville, AR/Fayetteville, NC etc.)
I had a car wreck while driving thru Huntington, WV while trying to get to Nashville. Totaled the car. Booked a ticket on Delta (i think) from HTS (tri-state airport) to BNA. Get to the airport the next morning and my ticket was for TRI-BNA (TRI-CITIES AIRPORT in Kingsport, TN). The price difference was $300! Delta was kind enough to give me the price for the other ticket.
When I was a child (in the 50's) we put my grandmother on a flt from STL Lamber Field to Louisville KY. it was an old twin engine redid. Somehow the airline got here on the wrong plane. 15 min after take off the landed, deboarded her then finally got her on the right plane to Louisville
We're used to Americans saying: "Paris, France" and we laugh at them. Maybe this was the passengers' fault, they didn't specify the country. Now, now, NO not the passengers' fault, but the person taking the booking either airline employee or travel agent. In either situation, they should clarify which place it is and which country and it is certainly not up to the passenger to know each airline code for each city that's why there are people employed by travel agents and airlines.
Each airline does not have a specific city/airport code. There is an international standard in coding cities and their respective airport(s). Sioux City, for example, is SUX. It applies to all carriers.
Back in the eighties there were two plane loads of passengers on two small inter island flights that went to the wrong islands. About 150 pax in each plane. This happened in Athens Greece, apparently the ground hostess instructed the two waitng rooms of pax to go to the wrong aircraft. So the plane went to the right place but not the pax. Some were late to get to the right beach but what a mess for the pax waiting to leave to connect out of Athens
I;ve heard stories about carriers losing luggage or sending luggage to the incorrect destination, but JESUS....Sending PEOPLE to the wrong CONTINENT?....
When I worked at Pan Am many years ago, we had three sister cities in our route structure - that is three pairs of cities with the same names but in different countries. Like San Jose (California and Costa Rica) Never heard of it causing any problem.
But when good ol' Pam Am existed flying was a much more dignified mode of transport. Now it's just slightly better than shipping yourself in a box. :-)
Hey,this isn't unusual. A few years back a guy in Frankfurt boarded a flight on Air New Zealand, w/pit stop in LAX, continuing to Auckland. He was asleep on landing at LAX, and rather than wake him, the FA's left him alone and the flight took off. Hours into the final leg, the dummy asked why it was taking so long to get to OAKLAND! But, s--- happens. My own son, who works for a major airline, was flying standby, IAH-SFO. When he couldn't board, he asked for a flight to San Jose, instead. Yeah, you guessed it: He and his bride landed a few hours later in Costa Rica!
How can the people affected can be employed by UCLA? At least they should had make sure they had the correct airport code, or if they were heading the correct country. They also were sent to their destinations with no further cost, maybe they only want to sue the airline.
A lot more fun in the old days. Sydney, NS. Sydney, Australia or Sidney, Vancouver Island. London England with baggage (remember those old manual tags) to London, Ontario.
Question here is, "Did they book themselves online or can they find some employee to blame?" And you pilots don't need to be too smug either. I recall a CP 737 that flew 250 miles the wrong direction from YZF before they realised the boo boo.
I suspect this kind of stuff up is more common than we know. Anecdotal stories of similar events have been around for years. I live in Melbourne but I sure as aint in Florida.
About 20 years ago, prior to ticket barcoding, I was connecting in Atlanta, going to Greenville, SC. Running late and running to the flight, I boarded the aircraft, moved to the rear cabin where my seat was located, and stored my carry-on bag overhead. I turned to find my seat occupied, and said, "I think I have this seat." The lady in the seat produced a ticket with the same seat number. I had a bewildered look on my face for an instant before she said, "...going to Memphis." I said, "this plane is going to Greenville." She became flustered, stood up, grabbed her bag and deplaned. I sat down, turned to the guy in the window seat and said with a smile, "she thought this plane was going to Memphis." He replied, [wait for it], "it is." I met one angry lady coming back up the aisle as I was deplaning.
I'm so impressed with your pedantic knowledge, and so abysmally ashamed of my informal and relaxed and apparently poor choice of verbiage. How could I?!!!
Back in the 80's I was traveling from Heathrow to Miami in British Airways. While in Line for the check-in in front of me there were a couple of oil workers with some drinks in their chests, I mean they seré drunk and they wanted to travel in Business with an economy ticket. The station hostess try to explain that it was not possible. They treat her very bad, with very nasty words. Finally they got their boarding passes and leave the area. When was my turn, I tray to appologize in the name of all men. She smiled and told me "those gentlemen are going to Dallas, their luggage to Hong Kong"
Try this one: My wife got on the plane in Mexico City headed for Springfield, MO. She ended up on the lonely Baha Peninsula. She stirred the sleeping workers (under their sombreros) and finally got a plane to LA and from thence Springfield all with $5.00 in her pocket.
I HAVE ask... HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN??? As having 32+ years in the cockpit, we never went to the WRONG City!!! Let alone the WRONG Continent!! Holy-****, did no one in the Cockpit even LOOK at their Flight Plan after take off?? It is time to re-think the WONDERFUL computers flying the aircraft, and at least make SURE that the humans that are in-charge of them know what the hell they are doing!!!
Next time read the article. The plane went to the right place, the customers went on the wrong plane. Funny you talk about pilots not reading flight plans when YOU don't read the full article.