PHILADELPHIA – An unaccompanied 6-year-old child who was flying on Spirit Airlines to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, was instead put on a flight to Orlando.
In an email to CNN, Spirit Airlines apologized to the family and said the child was scheduled to fly from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on December 21.
Instead, Spirit Airlines said the child “incorrectly boarded” a plane to Orlando.
“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,” the airline said in a statement CNN.
CNN affiliate WINK-TV spoke with Maria Ramos, a woman who identified the child as her 6-year-old grandson.
After the plane he was supposed to be on landed and her grandson wasn't there, Ramos panicked, she told WINK-TV.
Ramos told WINK-TV she received a call from her grandson after he landed in Orlando and they drove nearly 160 miles from Fort Myers to pick up the child.
The airline has offered to reimburse them for the trip, Ramos told WINK-TV, but more importantly, she wants to know why that happened.
Spirit Airlines did not address how the error occurred, but said it “takes seriously the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our guests and is conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience.”
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