A 16-year-old unaccompanied minor was supposed to travel from Florida to his mother in Ohio on a Frontier Airlines flight, but he ended up in Puerto Rico instead. This incident occurred on December 22, when the teen boy was scheduled to fly from Tampa to Cleveland, according to a statement from Frontier Director of Corporate Communications Jennifer de la Cruz to CNN. It was reported that the Ohio and Puerto Rico flights departed from the same gate, with the flight to Puerto Rico taking off first. De la Cruz expressed Frontier’s sincerest apologies to the family for the error.
The teen’s father, Ryan Lose, spoke to CNN and mentioned that it was his son’s first time flying alone and that he suffers from anxiety. When the teen arrived at the gate, the flight to Puerto Rico was already boarding. According to Lose, the airline staff checked his son’s bag to ensure it fit and confirmed that he was on the right flight without scanning his boarding pass. This oversight led to the teen boarding the wrong flight. The family became aware of the mistake when they realized that a flight to Puerto Rico had just departed from the same gate Logan’s Ohio flight was supposed to take off from.
Despite attempting to warn their son before the wrong flight departed, they were unable to reach him as his phone went straight to voicemail. It was only after contacting Frontier that they confirmed he was indeed on the wrong flight. Frontier flew him back on the same plane and arranged for a flight to Ohio the following day. Lose expressed that the entire incident had been stressful for everyone involved.
In a separate incident, Spirit Airlines also sent a six-year-old unaccompanied minor on the wrong flight. The child was meant to travel from Philadelphia to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, but ended up in Orlando instead. The grandmother, Maria Ramos, was initially informed that her grandson had missed his flight, but upon further investigation, the flight attendant revealed that she had not been accompanied by any child. Eventually, her grandson called and explained where he was.
Spirit Airlines offered to reimburse Ramos for the drive to Orlando, but she is seeking answers regarding how the mix-up occurred. She wants to know the details of how her grandson ended up in Orlando and if he was let go by himself by the flight attendant. These incidents raise concerns about the safety and security measures in place for unaccompanied minors flying alone. It is important for airlines to review their procedures to prevent such errors from reoccurring in the future.
