United admits it flew Passenger to wrong destination

Athens, Greece - March 30, 2016: People waiting to enter modern airplane through airplane door with steward welcoming them

By Amy Bryant

A United Airlines Passenger boarded a plane to Paris, but ended up elsewhere.

United Airlines is making the news for all the wrong reasons (again), after one of their passengers, who had a ticket for a flight from Newark to Paris, instead ended up in San Francisco.

According NY Post, Lucie Bahetoukilae received her boarding pass with the flight details ‘Newark to Charles de Gaulle’, and proceeded to the gate where her pass was scanned by a United rep before boarding.

Her niece Diane Miatsoko told NY Post that her aunty, who speaks no English, was confused when she went to her assigned seat to find another passenger already sitting in it. After seeking assistance from a flight attendant, she was ushered to another empty seat on the same plane.

So how did Ms Bahetoukilae end up on the wrong flight? The NY Post reports that Ms Bahetoukilae was not informed that United changed the gate of the flight to Paris at the last minute, because the airline failed to make the announcement in French or email the change.

“If they would have made the announcement in French, she would have moved gates,” Miantsoko told WABC. “Of course, because she speaks French, she would’ve moved to another gate.”

With the gruelling detour to San Francisco and eleven hours at the airport trying to resolve her situation, Ms Bahetoukilae finally arrived in Paris after a whopping 28 hours of travel.

United apologised to the woman, and offered her a refund on the airfare, accommodation in San Francisco and a travel voucher.

In a statement, United said, “We deeply apologize to Ms. Bahetoukilae for this unacceptable experience,” the air carrier said in a statement. “When she arrived in San Francisco, we ensured she got on the next flight to Paris and refunded her ticket. Our customer care team has reached out to her directly to ensure we make this right. We are also working with our team in Newark to prevent this from happening again.”

While this event must have been an arduous nightmare for Ms Bahetoukilae, it also raises a serious concern of United Airline’s security measures. Have people been able to travel to different destinations using this error before? This is just the latest in a string of incidents the airline has been involved in, following the assault of a passenger, and the death of a famous giant bunny.

Advertise with us

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

airline paris passenger san francisco united airlines