It feels like a Home Alone movie turned into a real-life accident. A poor little boy who was flying alone didn’t make it to visit his family, as he was mistakenly put on a flight landing in a completely different city.
Six-year-old Casper was flying unaccompanied from Philadelphia International Airport to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, when he was instead left stranded in Orlando, some 159.9 miles away from his desired destination.
Flying on Spirit Airlines last Thursday (December 21) to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, the low-cost American airline said Casper was “incorrectly boarded” on a plane to Orlando.
Six-year-old Casper was flying unaccompanied from Philadelphia to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers but landed in Orlando instead
Image credits: Forsaken Films/Unsplash
Casper’s grandmother, Maria Ramos, explained to Wink News that after the plane he was initially supposed to be on landed and her grandson wasn’t on it, she started to panic.
Maria told the outlet she got a call from her grandson after he landed in Orlando, which prompted her to make a drive of almost 160 miles from Fort Myers to pick him up.
Spirit Airlines said Casper was “incorrectly boarded” on a plane to Orlando
Image credits: WINK News
Maria further told the publication: “They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight.’ 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.'”
The distressed grandmother admitted it had been one of the scariest things she’s ever experienced.
As Casper was four hours away in Orlando, his bag had reportedly somehow made it to the Southwest Florida International Airport.
“They told me, 'No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight,'" Casper's grandmother said
Image credits: WINK News
Image credits: Hanson Lu/Unsplash
Spirit Airlines offered to reimburse the lengthy drive, Maria revealed, but more importantly, she wants to know why this happened.
“I want them to call me. Let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando,” Maria said. She continued: “How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? The flight attendant – after his mom handed him over with paperwork – did she let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?”
According to the grandmother, it was Casper's first time on a plane and the scariest thing she had experienced.
Spirit Airlines did not address how the mistake occurred but said they “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.”
A separate statement from a representative for Spirit Airlines told Business Insider: "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."
"Home Alone just got real," some readers funnily pointed out
