Frontier Airlines Accidentally Sends Teenager to Puerto Rico Instead of Ohio
A Florida teenager traveling alone was supposed to board a Frontier Airlines flight to Ohio to visit his mother, but instead, he ended up on a flight to Puerto Rico. The 16-year-old passenger, Logan Lose, was scheduled to fly from Tampa to Cleveland on December 22, but mistakenly boarded a flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to Frontier Director of Corporate Communications Jennifer de la Cruz.
The mix-up occurred as both the flight to Ohio and Puerto Rico departed from the same gate, with the flight to Puerto Rico taking off first. Frontier Airlines has extended its sincere apologies to the family for the error, but the incident has left the family and the teenager feeling stressed and anxious.
Logan, who suffers from flight anxiety, was on his first solo flight. His father, Ryan Lose, and his stepmother, Krista, had talked him through the process of navigating the airport and boarding the right flight. However, when Logan arrived at the gate in Tampa, he was allowed to board the wrong flight without his boarding pass being properly scanned.
It wasn’t until Logan’s mother called to confirm his safe arrival that the family realized something was amiss. Upon checking the flight status, they discovered that Logan had boarded the wrong plane, and their attempts to contact him were unsuccessful as his phone went straight to voicemail.
Frontier Airlines was eventually alerted to the mistake, and Logan was immediately flown back to Tampa on the same aircraft and accommodated on a flight to Cleveland the following day. However, the ordeal has been stressful for everyone involved, as Logan didn’t make it back to Tampa until 3:30 a.m. and had to catch another flight to Cleveland at 7:45 a.m.
In a statement, Frontier Airlines clarified that they do not have an “unaccompanied minor program” to provide escorts to minors, although they do allow children over the age of 15 to fly alone. While there are no specific Department of Transportation regulations for unaccompanied minors, airlines have their own procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of children during travel.
This incident comes shortly after a similar mishap involving an unaccompanied 6-year-old who boarded the wrong Spirit Airlines flight to Orlando instead of Ft. Myers. The family is now calling for better safety measures and stricter procedures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.