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5 July, 2019

“A cosmic failure”: Airline apologises for putting minor on wrong international flight

By Christian Fleetwood

United Airlines has issued an apology after reportedly putting a 14-year-old boy on the wrong international flight on Sunday.

Fox News reported that Anton Berg, of North Carolina, was scheduled to fly from Raleigh to Stockholm, Sweden, via a stop at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in New Jersey.

But his mother said that a United Airlines employee brought him to the wrong flight, and he was put on a Eurowings flight to Dusseldorf, Germany instead, despite Anton’s parents having paid United for an escort to the correct flight.

Anton reportedly alerted his parents to the mix-up, but only after he was already on the plane and began to realise he was on the wrong aircraft.

@United @SAS my son is in the wrong plane!!! EWR you put him on a plane to Germany!!!!

— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019

A series of tweets from Anton’s mother, Brenda Berg, detailed the incident. She claimed that she could not get through to United by phone, so she directed tweets directly to the airline and Scandinavia Airlines, all while Anton was reportedly “sitting in the tarmac on ER 1113”.

I can’t get through on any of you phone numbers. He is an unaccompanied minor going to ARN. You probably put another kid in his place who is supposed to go to Germany. The ARN is due to take off any second. The Eurowings to DUS has stopped on the runway. Do something! – call me!

— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019

He is sitting in the tarmac on ER 1113. @sas please don’t leave with sK904 you have the wrong kid!

— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019

Brenda continued to tweet throughout the ordeal and said that no one from United had responded to her or confirmed whether Anton was off the plane for over an hour. This went on for a further three hours.

It has now been 3 hours since my 14yo son said “I think they put me on the wrong plane and it is about to take off for Germany (instead of Sweden!).” @United still has not called back and our son is on his own in @EWR. #NeverUnitedAir

— Brenda Berg (@BrendaBerg) June 30, 2019

Multiple media reports have said that Anton eventually returned to the terminal in Newark, though he was still unaccompanied.

“When somebody says unaccompanied minor, wrong airplane, wrong country, everybody should’ve stepped up and done something,” Brenda told WRAL.

She said that the screw-up was a “cosmic failure” on United’s part.

Brenda was finally able to reach a representative, who said Anton was being rebooked on a different flight to Copenhagen; he reportedly arrived in Stockholm on Monday.

The resolution reportedly didn’t relieve much stress for the family due to a seven-hour delay in Anton’s journey that included an hours-long layover in Copenhagen, and, well, the fact that he nearly had a reverse Kevin McCallister experience.

The family were reportedly trying to avoid the layover with the initial domestic connection in the U.S. from Raleigh, N.C.

United apologised to the family and issued a statement that said the plane to Germany never took off and that the boy, Anton, had finally arrived where he was supposed to.

“The safety and well-being of all of our customers is our top priority, and we have been in frequent contact with the young man’s family to confirm his safety and to apologize for this issue,” the airline said.

“Once Eurowings recognized that he had boarded the wrong aircraft in Newark, the plane returned to the gate — before taking off. Our staff then assisted the young customer to ensure that he boarded the correct rebooked flight later that evening.

“We have confirmed that this young customer safely reached his destination.”

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