In a bizarre incident that seems to echo a scene straight out of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a six-year-old boy traveling unaccompanied was inadvertently placed on the wrong plane at Philadelphia International Airport, destined for the incorrect destination, reminiscent of the film's protagonist, Kevin McCallister.
According to CNN, the child was scheduled for a Spirit Airlines flight to Fort Myers, Florida, but instead was mistakenly boarded on a plane bound for Orlando.
Although not as drastic as Kevin's misadventure in the movie, where he intended to fly from Chicago to Miami but ended up in New York City instead, the Orlando-Fort Myers confusion posed a relatively shorter three-hour drive between the destinations.
After landing in Orlando, the child contacted his grandmother, who had anxiously awaited his arrival at Fort Myers airport. Concerned when he didn't disembark, she drove 160 miles to retrieve him. The airline reimbursed her travel expenses, though her time was not compensated.
The airline noted their error relatively quickly, releasing the following statement:
“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.”After an internal investigation, Spirit has fired the agent who was found responsible for allowing the boy on the wrong flight.Maria Ramos, the child's grandmother, told CNN affiliate WINK-TV she was frightened by the experience and wants definitive answers from the airline:
“I want them to call me. 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?”
Social media users have humorously compared the incident to the famous movie mishap.
Spirit, a major ultra-low-cost airline, is no stranger to travel controversy.
In 2019, the Department of Transportation (DOT) imposed a $100,000 fine on Spirit Airlines due to the mishandling of complaints concerning passengers with disabilities.
This penalty was a result of Spirit Airlines' failure to adequately record and address these grievances, a violation of DOT's regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act. This Act prohibits any form of discrimination against passengers with disabilities in air travel.
In 2016, DOT released a report that showed Spirit Airlines had the highest rate of consumer complaints during 2015. The data showed that 11.73 out of every 100,000 customers who flew Spirit had complaints about their experience.
