Catching the wrong flight harder now, but still happens

Did you hear about the woman last week who thought she was going to Tampa, FL, but ended up in Puerto Rico? According to an article in the Tampa Bay press, senior citizen, Vera Kuemmel, had flown to New York to look for an apartment. She planned to return to Tampa the same day. Her U.S. Air flight required her to change planes in Philadelphia. Which she did. But instead of heading back to Florida and sleeping in her own bed, she ended up spending the night in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Vera's not the first person to board the wrong aircraft. A few years ago, a woman flew from Manchester, England, to Newark, N.J. She planned to connect to a flight heading for San Jose, Calif. Several hours later, she deplaned in San Jose, Costa Rica. It took her two days to find her way to the right San Jose.

Before computers ruled our lives, it was fairly easy to land on the wrong aircraft at the wrong airport. Flight attendants rarely looked closely at boarding passes. Airplanes traveled with empty seats, so it was quite possible to find your seat assignment available on the wrong plane. When we announced the scheduled destination before takeoff, it was common to see a red-faced passenger gather up his belongs and hustle off the aircraft.

During the 1970s, while working a flight from Rome to New York, I met two dock workers who had spent an all-expense-paid week in Rome, Italy. They hadn't entered and won some contest. They had simply boarded the wrong aircraft in New York when they were trying to return to Puerto Rico. They landed in Italy the same time the airline landed in a monthlong strike. Several bottles of wine and plates of pasta later, the airline found two empty seats and sent them back to New York.

Travel agent Debbie Barr once booked a businessman on a flight to Charleston, W.Va., He arrived and took a cab to the Ramada Inn. In the morning, he asked for a cab to take him to the University of West Virginia. The driver said he would do it, but it would be expensive. That's when he found out he wasn't in West Virginia. He had spent the night in Charleston, S.C.

Today, with computerized boarding passes and filled-to-capacity aircraft, it's unusual for a passenger to board the wrong aircraft. But because more passengers book their flights online, they sometimes end up at the wrong airport and miss the proverbial boat anyway. This happened to Ginny Barnes. She booked a flight from Chicago to London through New York City. Ginny gave herself two hours for the connection, which would have been fine if her Chicago flight had landed at Kennedy International Airport. It didn't. Ginny landed at Newark, N.J. It took her two hours to get to the right airport. Ginny watched her flight take off without her.

To avoid landing someplace you don't want to be, here are a few things to consider:

• Confirm your flight number. Flights leaving from neighboring gates can be confusing. Make sure your flight number matches the one posted at your gate.

• Confirm your destination. When you board the aircraft, double check with the flight attendant that this plane plans to go where you plan to go.

• Confirm your airport. Many cities have more than one airport. If you're making airline connections in a city, be sure you're arriving and leaving from the same airport.

• Confirm your gate number. Airports often change the gate number of departing aircraft. Check the monitors often for a gate change.

Even though the equipment has become more sophisticated, you need to pay attention when you travel. You can still make a wrong turn on the Information Highway and land at the wrong airport.

Gail Todd, a free-lance writer,worked as a flight attendant for more than 30years. She can be reached via e-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.