A United Airlines passenger was shocked to find himself 8,000 miles away from his intended destination after accidentally boarding the wrong flight.
The traveler was flying from Los Angeles to Managua, Nicaragua, with a layover in Houston, but mistakenly ended up in Tokyo instead.
As his three-hour flight stretched to six, he realized something was wrong and asked the flight attendant what the problem was—but it was too late. The man, who has not been identified, landed at Haneda Airport in Japan.
According to The Traveler, he remained on board as ground staff and immigration authorities handled the situation. His original ticket to Managua cost $655.
The passenger stayed in a Tokyo hotel for two nights while the airline arranged for him to reach his intended destination.
A United Airlines spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “We followed up with the airport to understand how this happened, reached out directly to the customer to apologize for his experience and offered travel credits and reimbursement.”
United initially offered $300 in travel credit but later increased it to $1,000 following criticism over the passenger’s additional costs, including hotel fees and essentials.
The spokesperson reiterated: “We always advise customers to monitor the signs at the gate and boarding announcements to make sure the aircraft they board is going to their intended destination.”
A similar incident occurred in 2017, when Lucie Bahetoukilae, who speaks no English, mistakenly flew from Newark to San Francisco instead of Paris after a gate change, highlighting the importance of checking flight details.
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