New York – A woman in New York says she hasn’t stopped crying since an airline mistook her 5-year-old for another child and flew him to the wrong city.
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Maribel Martinez tells New York’s Daily News (http://nydn.us/2chzb8W ) she was shocked when JetBlue staffers presented her with another little boy on Aug. 17 at Kennedy Airport.
“No, this is not my child,” she recalled telling JetBlue employees. “I was freaking out.”
Her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said that child was supposed to be in Boston. Instead, Martinez’s son, Andy, was sent there.
“I thought he was kidnapped,” said Martinez. “I thought I would never see him again.”
Both unaccompanied 5-year-old boys had boarded in the Dominican Republic. Martinez said her son was wearing a wristband with his name on it. But the other child was carrying Andy’s passport.
The boy who was mistakenly flown to New York was safely returned to Boston, the airline said. JetBlue is reviewing how the mix-up occurred.
“Upon learning of the error, our teams in JFK and Boston immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations,” the airline said in a statement. “While the children were always under the care and supervision of JetBlue crew members, we realize this situation was distressing for their families.”
Martinez flew with her son July 28 for the family vacation; she returned home to Manhattan a week later, leaving Andy with relatives. In buying his return ticket, she paid an extra $100 fee for a JetBlue representative to escort him onto the plane.
Martinez said it took more than three hours for the airline to track down Andy in Boston. When it put her on the phone with him, he said, “Mami, they put me on another plane,” she told the newspaper.
The airline put Andy on a flight to Kennedy Airport that same day, and JetBlue refunded Martinez $475 for Andy’s return ticket and also gave the family $2,100 in credit.
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Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com
Ok…accident happen.
But why exactly was one kid carrying the other kid’s passport?
How do you send 5 year olds alone on a plane??? Even with the extra care.
I wonder what was so important to have them fly on their own.
Regarding the wrong passport, the airline could have easily looked at the photo on the passport, to ensure that the carrier of that passport, was the one in the photo. There were other ways that they could have checked on the ID of the children. However, they took the easy and lazy way out; there was really no excuse for the mixup. The Mother of the child who was sent to the wrong destination should sue for intentional infliction of mental trauma. Also, the commentators on this site who blamed the Mother, for letting her kid fly by himself, should be ashamed of themselves. It was easy to blame the Mother, since she is a gentile. However, if a Jew left his kid in a car, and the child died, then they would all come to his/her defense. Incidentally, airlines routinely mixup young chilldren on flights, the same way that they misroute luggage. This can all be summed up by a quote, which Clark Gable made, at the end of the movie “Gone with the Wind”:
QUITE FRANKLY, THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN!
Any parent who sends 5 year old kid who doesn’t speak English on an international flight alone and relies on a minimum wage airline employee to assure they get on the right flight has only themselves to blame when the kid gets lost…..The airlines get an extra $100 over the normal airfare so that tells you the extent of the effort they will expend in assuring a safe departure and arrival.