December 25, 2023
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Spirit Airlines is investigating how a 6-year-old boy was mistakenly placed on a flight from Philadelphia to Orlando last week when he was supposed to get on a flight to Fort Myers to visit his grandmother.
A 6-year-old boy traveling alone to see his grandmother in Florida was mistakenly put on the wrong Spirit Airlines flight out of Philadelphia International Airport last week, according to multiple reports.
The boy was scheduled to board a Dec. 21 flight from Philly to Fort Myers, but was "incorrectly boarded" on a plane bound for Orlando, the airline told CBS News. The two cities are about 160 miles apart.
The boy's grandmother, Maria Ramos, told CBS affiliate WINK-TV that she went to the airport in Fort Myers to pick up her grandson, Casper. But when she arrived, she was told there had been a mishap.
“They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight,’ " Ramos told WINK-TV. “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 said Casper had been dropped off at the Philly airport by his mother with paperwork for the airline about the boy's itinerary.
In a statement provided to CNN, Spirit Airlines declined to explain how the mistake occurred. The budget airline said the boy remained under the watch of flight staff after the mix-up was discovered.
“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 Spirit Airlines spokesperson said.
Ramos said that after she was told her grandson wasn't on the plane to Fort Myers, she got a call from Casper. He said he had landed in Orlando. Ramos and other family members drove more than three hours to pick Casper up at the airport.
Spirit Airlines reportedly told Ramos that she would be reimbursed for the cost of the drive, but Ramos now wants answers about how Casper wound up on the wrong flight.
“I want them to call me. Let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando," Ramos said. "How did that happen?
Spirit Airlines said it is conducting an internal investigation.
"We apologize to the family for this experience," the airline spokesperson said.
