Alex O'Brien
International Travel

Traveller accidentally catches wrong flight

Nowadays, the chance of finding yourself on the wrong international flight seems pretty slim, but as one unfortunate traveller found out, anything is possible.

Taiwan resident Ms Hong, 34, not only managed to catch the wrong flight, but she did so on the wrong airline, under the wrong name. Ms Hong’s boyfriend had purchased her a ticket that would see her travelling on Hong Kong airlines. But when she arrived at Taiwan’s Taoyuan Airport, Ms Hong accidentally went to the Cathay Pacific kiosk.

You would’ve thought that’s where the mistake was picked up right? Wrong.

Amazingly, an employee issued a boarding pass and not one person stopped her as she passed through the immigration checks, eventually boarding the Cathay Pacific plane.

It was only when her boyfriend was notified by Hong Kong Airlines that she had failed to turn up for the flight that the mistake was uncovered.

Ms Hong reportedly was quite displeased when she found out what happened, telling Taiwan's Apple Daily. “[The name on the air ticket] wasn’t me. Even the sex [on the air ticket] was not right. This is ridiculous.”

A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman told the South China Morning Post, “Initial investigations indicated that there was an error in the check-in procedures.

“We take this matter seriously and are in the process of securing more information from the relevant teams and reviewing the check-in procedures on that day to ensure that similar incidents will not happen again.”

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insurance, travel, flying