Spirit Airlines staff members placed an unaccompanied minor on the wrong flight this week, the airline acknowledged in a statement Sunday.
The boy left Philadelphia on Thursday and was scheduled to arrive in Fort Myers, Florida, but ended up in Orlando, about a three-hour drive away.
According to local TV station wink, the child was a 6-year-old boy, Casper, who was traveling to meet his grandmother, Maria Ramos. Ramos told the news station that it was Casper’s first time on a plane.
“They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight.’ There’s no way I’m going to miss it,”’ Ramos told a local news outlet. “I ran to the flight attendant on the plane and asked, ‘Where’s my grandchild?’ Was he handed over to you in Philadelphia? She said, ‘No, I don’t have any children.’ said.”
Ramos told the station that his grandson later called him to let him know he had arrived in Orlando.
“I want them to call me. Please tell me how my grandson got to Orlando. How did this happen? Did they take him off the plane? Did you let him go on his own after you gave him the money? Did he jump on the wrong plane by himself?” Ramos told police.
The airline later apologized and said it was conducting an internal investigation into what happened.
“On December 21st, an unaccompanied child traveling from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Myers (RSW) was mistakenly boarded on a flight bound for Orlando (MCO). The child was always a Spirit Team member. “We contacted the family as soon as we discovered the mistake and took immediate steps to re-establish contact with them,” the statement said.
“We 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.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.