A lot of parents know the fear of losing your child amongst a crowd, but how many have ever experienced losing your child across the country?
When you entrust an airline to look after a young family member as they travel to relatives for Christmas, expecting that they reach their destination without issue is the norm.
However, in a real-life Home Alone situation, a family was left panicked after discovering that the airline in question had accidentally placed a six-year-old boy unaccompanied and on the wrong flight, hundreds of miles from where he was supposed to land.
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Now, Spirit Airlines has come forward to issue an apology to the family of the minor.
It was only a few days ago that the little boy was ready at the Philadelphia International Airport with a plan to set off to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Florida.
WINK-TV reported that on Thursday (December 21), he was supposed to fly out to visit his grandmother for the holidays, but the plan went awfully wrong somewhere along the way.
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Instead of boarding the plane to Southwest Florida Intl., the boy somehow was ‘incorrectly boarded’ on a flight to Orlando.
Spirit Airlines went on to produce a statement on Saturday (December 24), however, the statement didn’t confirm how the little boy was misplaced on the wrong flight during the busy travel period.
Spirit said: “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.
"We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our Guests seriously and are conducting an international investigation.
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"We apologize to the family for this experience."
After the frantic incident, the little boy’s grandmother, Maria Ramos, went on to speak to WINK-TV about the moment she realised he hadn’t arrived on the correct flight.
She said: “They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight.’ I said, ‘No, he could not miss his flight because I have the check-in tag.’”
"I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, ‘Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?’
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“She said, ‘No, I had no kids with me.’”
It wasn’t long after the realisation that the boy called her from an airport in Orlando to tell her that he had landed safely, albeit in the wrong place.
However, the grandmother still hasn’t received an explanation for how the mix-up came about from the airline.
She explained her feelings on the matter: "I want them to call me [and] let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando.
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"How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? The flight attendant- after mom handed him with paperwork- did she let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?"
With no clear answers as to how it happened, hopefully the family were able to enjoy the festive season together.
Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Studios/FlikrTopics: Christmas, Home Alone, News, Travel, US News, Plane Etiquette