JetBlue mix-up sends two unaccompanied minors to wrong airports
Tuesday, 02 Sep, 2016
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A New York mom has told of her shock after her five-year-old son was mixed up with another unaccompanied minor and flown to the wrong city.
Maribel Martinez was waiting for her son Andy to return from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic and was presented with the wrong child at New York JFK.
However the child was carrying Martinez’ son’s passport.
Both minors had boarded at Santiago, Dominican Republic for separate JetBlue flights to New York and Boston.
Martinez’ son was eventually tracked down in Boston.
JetBlue issued a statement over the embarrassing mix-up.
"Our teams in JFK and Boston immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations. While the children were always under the care and supervision of JetBlue crewmembers, we realize this situation was distressing for the families," it said.
Martinez told the New York Daily News it took the airline more than three hours to locate her son.
"Any parent can understand the terrifying feeling of fear a mother goes through knowing her young child is missing. This should never have happened. Jet Blue’s employees should be ashamed of themselves," said the Martinez’ family lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.
Rubenstein hinted a lawsuit may follow.
"Right now the issue is not a lawsuit, the issue is an investigation by the FAA about what actually happened here, and then we’ll explore the lawsuit," Rubenstein said.
JetBlue said it has refunded the flights and issued additional flight credit to both families and an internal investigation into the incident is ongoing.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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