A five-year old boy travelling on his own had a very Home Alone 2 experience, when he was accidentally flown to the wrong city.
Andy Martinez was travelling from Cibao International Airport in the Dominican Republic on 17 August to meet his mother, Maribel Martinez, in New York City, but ended up in Boston after being mistaken for another child who was also travelling solo.
In a lawsuit filed by Ms Martinez against the airline late last week, the mother said she was waiting at the gate at John F Kennedy Airport on 17 August, when airline staff presented her with a boy she’d never seen before.
She said she immediately started “freaking out”, thinking that Andy had been “kidnapped” and that “she’d never see him again”, News.com.au reported.
“I was freaking out. I didn’t know if he was alive. I still haven’t stopped crying.”
Maribel Martinez
When airline staff was able to figure out what happened and get Andy on the phone – it allegedly took around three hours –, Ms Martinez said he told her that they’d “put me on another plane”.
The two children were eventually flown to their intended destinations, but not after Ms Martinez claims to have experienced “great emotional distress, extreme fear, horror, mental shocks, mental anguish and psychological trauma”.
Following the incident, JetBlue refunded Ms Martinez the $617 for the flight, plus handed her a $2,700 in flight credit.
However, the mother’s lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages and, according to her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, she’s hoping the case will prevent mix-ups from happening in the future.
