Any mother would be nervous at the prospect of sending her child off on a flight without her; but what could go wrong after paying for an escort to accompany the child? Plenty, it has emerged.
An American woman is suing airline JetBlue after they mistook her son for another little boy and put him on the wrong flight.
Maribel Martinez told the New York Daily News that she feared the worst when the wrong child was presented to her at Kennedy Airport.
As it turned out, JetBlue had mistaken Andy for another as yet unnamed boy, and actually sent the child on a flight to Boston, 214 miles away.
Maribel had been holidaying with Andy in the Dominican Republic, but flew home alone after a week. Andy stayed with relatives in the meantime, and was due to fly out to Kennedy Airport on his own.
Andy’s relatives stayed with him through every step of the process at the airport, and even filmed him boarding the plane. Maribel had also paid $100 to avail of a special JetBlue service whereby an escort would then accompany Andy on the flight.
Andy got mixed up with the other child at some point however, with the other boy even turning up at Kennedy Airport with Andy’s passport.
Meanwhile, as a frantic Maribel panicked over where her son could be, JetBlue took three hours to locate him and figure out what had gone wrong.
Both boys were safely returned to their families on the same day of the mix-up, but Maribel is not taking the traumatic experience lying down.
The mother was refunded for the price of the flight and service, and given a further $2100 credit against future travel with the company, but she has decided to take a negligence case against JetBlue.
“This never should have happened, and the JetBlue employees should be ashamed of themselves,” said the mother’s lawyer.
A spokesperson for JetBlue, meanwhile, said in a statement: “Upon learning of the error, our teams in JFK and Boston immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations. While the children were always under the care and supervision of JetBlue crew members, we realise this situation was distressing for their families.”
We can’t imagine how traumatic this must have been for all concerned. We will keep you updated on the story as the case progresses.
