The parents of a teenager who was put on the wrong flight to the wrong country have received an apology from United Airlines.
Fourteen-year-old Anton Berg was traveling with United Airlines and partner Scandinavian Airlines from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Stockholm, Sweden via Newark Liberty International Airport.
Mother Brenda had paid United $US150 to have him escorted as an unaccompanied minor in compliance with airline policy.
But that failed to prevent him being ushered on to a plane to Dusseldorf, Germany, with Lufthansa offshoot Eurowings.
The Eurowings aircraft was forced to return to the gate after Anton realized the mistake and noticed many of the passengers were speaking German.
He texted his mother who tried unsuccessfully to phone United and ended up tweeting about his plight to get attention.
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“It was absolute desperation,’’ she told WRAL TV. “We had no way to reach the airline. We were sitting there with a child on the runway about to fly to Germany, the wrong country, and we had no way to reach them.’
The mix-up meant Anton missed his flight to Stockholm but Brenda was eventually was able to confirm he had been rebooked on a flight to Copenhagen that saw him arrive in Stockholm Monday.
Brenda said the mix-up was a warning to other parents and a “cosmic failure” by United.
“I just thought all night what if he’d been 12? What if he’d been 10? What if he didn’t have his cell phone on him?’’ she said.
“This can’t happen to anybody else.”
The problem came down to an incorrectly issued boarding pass issued by an external service provider handling both Eurowings and SAS. Anton was basically given a Eurowings boarding pass instead of one for SAS.
United said in a statement: “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.
“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.”
