Boy (6) travelling to visit grandmother for Christmas put on wrong flight

Maria Ramos’s grandson ended up in Orlando, 160 miles away from where she was waiting to meet him

Spirit Airlines said the boy was looked after by staff despite being put on the wrong flight. Photograph: Chris O’Meara/AP
Spirit Airlines said the boy was looked after by staff despite being put on the wrong flight. Photograph: Chris O’Meara/AP

A six-year-old boy who left on a flight for the Christmas holiday to visit his grandmother in southwest Florida, in the US, was put on the wrong plane and ended up 160 miles away in Orlando.

When the grandmother, Maria Ramos, arrived on Thursday at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers to greet her grandson, who was flying for the first time from Philadelphia, she was told he was not on the Spirit Airlines flight.

“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’,” Ms Ramos told WINK News.

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She then got a call from her grandson from the airport in Orlando, telling her that he had landed.

In a statement Spirit Airlines said the boy was under the care and supervision of an airline employee the entire time, even though he was incorrectly put on a flight to Orlando.

Once the mistake was discovered the airline let the family know, the statement said.

“We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation,” the statement said.

“We apologise to the family for this experience.” – Associated Press