Woman flew almost 5,000km in wrong direction after United Airlines failed to inform her of gate change

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

SHE flew the friendly skies — in the wrong direction.

United Airlines admitted it failed a woman who boarded a plane in Newark for a flight to Paris — but ended up in San Francisco instead, WABC-TV reported.

Lucie Bahetoukilae said she took her boarding pass — marked “Newark to Charles de Gaulle” — to the gate, where a United rep scanned it before she boarded the plane.

“When she went to sit, someone was sitting there already,” said her niece, Diane Miantsoko, who translated for the French-speaker.

But she said the flight attendant looked at her boarding pass and simply sat her somewhere else.

Ms Bahetoukilae, who speaks no English, said she never realised United made a last-minute gate change without making an announcement in French or notifying her by email.

“If they would have made the announcement in French, she would have moved gates,” Ms Miantsoko told WABC.

“Of course, because she speaks French, she would’ve moved to another gate.”

Instead of a 7.5 hour flight to the City of Lights, Ms Bahetoukilae flew almost 4,800km to the City by the Bay, where she languished for 11 hours at the airport before being rerouted to France.

 

 

The passenger’s niece Diane Miantsoko said her aunt could’ve “been a terrorist”. Picture: ABCSource:Supplied

When she finally arrived in Paris, she had been travelling for more than 28 hours.

Ms Miantsoko said that despite the hassle, the family was more worried about the airline’s apparent security lapse.

“With everything going on this country, people have to be more careful,” she said.

“They didn’t pay attention. My aunt could have been anyone. She could have been a terrorist and killed people on that flight, and they didn’t know they didn’t catch it.”

United has apologised for the fiasco, saying it “mistakenly put her on the wrong flight.”

And even though Ms Bahetoukilae didn’t seek a refund, she received one for the airfare, hotel accommodation in San Francisco and a voucher for another trip, the station reported.

“We deeply apologise to Ms Bahetoukilae for this unacceptable experience,” the air carrier said in a statement.

“When she arrived in San Francisco, we ensured she got on the next flight to Paris and refunded her ticket. Our customer care team has reached out to her directly to ensure we make this right. We are also working with our team in Newark to prevent this from happening again.”

The beleaguered airline has made headlines recently for a number of incidents, including the violent ejection of Dr David Dao from an overbooked flight on April 9. The Kentucky doctor settled his claim against United last week.

On April 19, the airline came under fire again after the death of a giant rabbit, named Simon, in the hold on a flight from London. United has reportedly reached a five-figure compensation with the rabbit’s breeder.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Damn lefties didn't tell her about the gate change. 

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

2 minutes ago, spookyturtle said:

Damn lefties didn't tell her about the gate change. 

each of these planes has a manifest with a head count.  This error means the plane that had the extra passenger goofed on their count as well as the plane that took off without her.    At least she did not take a beating for getting on the wrong plane.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

1 minute ago, ccneat said:

each of these planes has a manifest with a head count.  This error means the plane that had the extra passenger goofed on their count as well as the plane that took off without her.    At least she did not take a beating for getting on the wrong plane.

More leftist conspiracy theories. 

[Mr&Mrs G. 903]

9 minutes ago, spookyturtle said:

Damn lefties didn't tell her about the gate change. 

Other than having to deal with the hills and no Eifel Tower she would have felt right at home in San Francisco. 

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Just now, Mr&Mrs G. said:

Other than having to deal with the hills and no Eifel Tower she would have felt right at home in San Francisco. 

San Fran is a great place to visit. I highly recommend checking it out if you have the chance. 

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

I cant believe we are almost a whole page in and the mdl has not blamed trump yet 

[OriZ 3,157]

I think both sides are to blame here. They should have caught it at the gate and prevented her from boarding, and she should have not had her head up in the clouds.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

8 minutes ago, OriZ said:

I think both sides are to blame here. They should have caught it at the gate and prevented her from boarding, and she should have not had her head up in the clouds.

Did you catch the part where she is not a native English speaker and that the gate had changed?  Did you also catch my ( very accurate) analysis that besides a scan at the gate each plane the crew of each craft needs to count the heads and match them to the manifest which meant both two aircraft took off missing this important control?

[OriZ 3,157]

I caught all of it. The destination always appears clearly on many screens, including the one at the gate. Oftentimes they have it listed in French as well but even if not, all it takes is looking at your flight number and the flight number on the display monitor and comparing it with the gates. Especially not knowing the language means you should be more aware and watch out for those things. Gate changes, especially in Newark, happen more often than not. You simply do not count on the gate that's on your boarding pass, ever. 

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

1 hour ago, OriZ said:

I caught all of it. The destination always appears clearly on many screens, including the one at the gate. Oftentimes they have it listed in French as well but even if not, all it takes is looking at your flight number and the flight number on the display monitor and comparing it with the gates. Especially not knowing the language means you should be more aware and watch out for those things. Gate changes, especially in Newark, happen more often than not. You simply do not count on the gate that's on your boarding pass, ever. 

That still does not explain how two flights took off with the wrong passenger count...

[ready4ONE 5,400]

1 hour ago, ccneat said:

That still does not explain how two flights took off with the wrong passenger count...

Someone has to say it, Donald Trump. (My gift to the MDR, you're welcome!)

[Jacque67 7,328]

1 hour ago, ccneat said:

That still does not explain how two flights took off with the wrong passenger count...

This is outrageous  and typical of the patriarchy!!! Wimmin are invisible... She needs to lawyer up. No time for some weak c'est la vie attitude!!!

 

[OriZ 3,157]

6 hours ago, ccneat said:

That still does not explain how two flights took off with the wrong passenger count...

Which is why I said they're both to blame. I didn't say United didn't do anything wrong, I just think it could have still been avoided had she been paying sufficient attention.

[IAMX 3,055]

United should have controls over preventing this sort of thing from happening.. what if the person had nefarious intentions? What if the person is illiterate? Mentally handicapped? Clearly their controls failed, and the stewardess that checked the ticket should have realized it was the wrong flight I can definitely see how a United stewardess who is used to the company overbooking wouldn't diligently look over the ticket and just toss her in another seat . And I hate to repeat myself but this is the repercussions of that overbooking policy. I don't feel bad for United.