Home Alone 2: Lost in RDU

One of the funniest calls I’ve gotten, though I don’t know if my caller thought it was.

I work for an airline. Got a call from someone who tells me they got on the wrong plane, and ended up in the wrong city. At first I’m a bit skeptical because, well, there are rules in place that typically prevent that.

Let’s just call my passenger Kevin.

I bring up Kevin’s ticket and nothing looks out of the ordinary. He has a flight from DCA to New York, which shows flown. Only Kevin claims he’s in Raleigh, North Carolina and is upset that the airport personnel in Washington told him to get on the wrong plane.

Now, a lot of things had to happen to get Kevin on this airplane. His family woke up late and were rushing to get through the airport during busy holiday travel, but also DCA has a lot of small planes that board on the tarmac.

Kevin’s boarding pass was scanned inside, before he walked out onto the tarmac. He either misinterpreted or was pointed towards the wrong flight.

By some crazy chance, the flight Kevin ended up on didn’t have anyone in the same number seat he was supposed to occupy.

Kevin states he donned his headphones soon after boarding and thus didn’t hear the announcement about their destination.

I didn’t have access to the passenger manifest yet, which would presumably show Kevin on his intended flight anyways. So all I could really do is take his word for it, along with the circumstantial evidence.

I mean, why would Kevin want to get to New York if he was already there?

I rebooked him without charge. I called a supervisor to ask their advice. They also happened to be in RDU and just laughingly asked if he was trying to come see them.

Good job, Kevin.