Disabled passengers flown to wrong destination

Mistakes can happen but when you end up not only on the wrong aircraft but are transported to the wrong destination, that’s really unforgivable.

It doesn’t happen that often but invariably it’s because a disabled person is being given special assistance and is driven to the aircraft but happily in the majority of cases, as happened to one of our readers who was flying to Gibraltar but taken to an aircraft going to Switzerland, the on board staff recognise the problem.

How could this happen?

Unfortunately, in the case of Linda Trestrail, 69, and Wendy Russell, 71, it all went horribly wrong as they turned to catch a Jet2 flight to Mallorca on September 26, 2023 and to their horror ended up in Menorca.

Basically, they were victims of a series of mistakes which saw them pass through a number of checks and ended up being put on the wrong flight which unfortunately for them had spare seats which corresponded with the numbers on their boarding passes and despite showing their passes to a stewardess they ended up flying to Menorca.

Eventually, they were flown back to Mallorca to discover that their proper flight had taken off without two passengers but with their luggage which in itself is a major security breach.

Needless to say the two elderly and disabled ladies found themselves in a bad physical state and didn’t enjoy their holiday and reportedly complained on the basis that if you lose your luggage you get compensation but if they lose passengers you don’t!

According to Stoke on Trent Live, Jet2 have issued an apology , blaming the problem on ‘human error’ and partly on the third party operator running the assistance service.

Is the Jet2 apology good enough?

The actual Jet2 statement reads “We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mses Trestrail and Russell for this incident. This is an extremely isolated incident and although there was no security risk, we have of course investigated it as a matter of urgency, including with the third-party special assistance provider.

“We can confirm that the customers went through security correctly, and their luggage was also screened correctly. However, after these checks the customers were taken to the incorrect aircraft, which is the responsibility of the third-party special assistance provider at the airport.

“Upon boarding the aircraft, the incorrect destination on their boarding passes was unfortunately not identified and we apologise for this oversight which was down to human error. We have carried out additional training with the team to ensure this does not happen again.

“As soon as we learned of the issue, our team booked Mses Trestrail and Russell onto the soonest available flight from Menorca to Majorca and they also provided all the assistance they could both throughout their journey and the rest of their holiday. We have been in touch with Mses Trestrail and Russell to offer an appropriate gesture of goodwill and once again offer our sincere apologies.

“We understand they are due to travel with us once again this year, and we look forward to welcoming them onboard and delivering the usual VIP customer experience that we are recognised for.”

Be warned however, if you are disabled, it’s traumatic enough to be travelling but make sure you keep an eye on which plane you are being driven to in order to make sure you get on the correct one.