One family was left in a state of worry after their teenage son, who had been flying to Cleveland, Ohio, ended up in Puerto Rico instead.
Logan Lose, 16, had departed Tampa International Airport for Cleveland on Dec. 22 to visit his mom for the holidays when he unexpectedly was boarded onto the wrong flight, Logan’s father, Ryan Lose, told WFLA. Instead of arriving in Ohio, Logan was shocked to discover that he was nowhere near his intended destination.
The teenager was allowed to board the Frontier Airlines flight after he arrived at the gate and saw other passengers in line. As a result, the boarding agent allowed him to board the flight to San Juan without scanning his ticket.
Logan’s flight to Ohio and the Puerto Rico flight were departing from the same gate, with the Ohio flight taking off at a later time.
“Logan said they didn’t scan it,” Ryan Lose told the outlet. “They would’ve known it was the wrong flight if they scanned the boarding pass.”
‘Mom, I’m scared’: Teenager traveling alone to Cleveland mistakenly ends up in Puerto Rico
— clevelanddotcom (@clevelanddotcom) January 2, 2024
“I’m happy to be done with planes for a while,” 16-year-old Logan Lose said. “I just hope this doesn’t happen to any other kid.” https://t.co/eA9mdP3ZEZ
Ryan Lose told CNN that he was aware that his son had been boarded onto the wrong flight when the teenager’s mom called him around 8:30 p.m. to tell him he was already on the plane.
“That’s when my 9-year-old son looked up the flight status and realized that a flight to Puerto Rico had just taken off from the same gate Logan’s Ohio flight was taking off from,” Ryan Lose said.
After attempting to contact Logan about the mistake, the family reached out to Frontier Airlines around 8:40 p.m. to inform them of the situation. At around 10:15 p.m., the airline reached out to the family and acknowledged the mistake.
After arriving in Puerto Rico, Logan reached out to his family for “help” as he was in a state of panic.
“Help me please,” the teenager texted his family. “I’m so scared. They told me it was Ohio.”
Frontier Director of Corporate Communications Jennifer de la Cruz acknowledged that Logan Lose had been “immediately flown back to Tampa on the same aircraft and accommodated on a flight to Cleveland the following day.”
The teen’s father said his son arrived in Tampa around 3:30 a.m. and later arrived in Ohio around 7:45 a.m.
“All they had to do was scan the boarding pass and he never boards,” Ryan Lose said. “Or if they did a head count [on the plane] they would’ve noticed he was not in a seat assigned to that flight.”
While de la Cruz says the airline “extended its sincere apologies to the family for the error,” and offered a $200 travel voucher, Ryan Lose says that is not enough.
“They offered me a voucher to an airline that just lost my son,” the teen’s father said. “I want accountability. These airlines are not being held accountable.”