Teen bound for Ohio boards wrong plane, ends up on Caribbean island

ORLANDO, Fla. - A 16-year-old boy bound for Cleveland, Ohio, accidentally boarded the wrong plane and ended up more than 1,500 miles away on a Caribbean island.

Logan Lose was traveling alone from Tampa, Florida, to Cleveland on December 22 with Frontier Airlines, but according to the teen’s father, he accidentally boarded a flight for Puerto Rico instead.

In a statement to FOX 35, Frontier Airlines said: 

"A 16-year-old male passenger who was scheduled to fly from Tampa to Cleveland mistakenly boarded a different flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Both the San Juan and Cleveland flights departed from the same gate, with the San Juan flight departing first. He was immediately flown back to Tampa on the same aircraft and accommodated on a flight to Cleveland the following day. Frontier has extended its sincere apologies to the family for the error."

Frontier Airlines allows children aged 15 and older to fly alone. They do not offer an unaccompanied minor program involving airline-provided escorts for minors like other airlines.

This is the second time a minor ended up on the wrong plane in one week. One day prior, on December 21, a six-year-old boy named Casper was accidentally boarded onto a Spirit Airlines flight heading for Orlando, Florida, instead of Fort Myers, Florida, where he was intended to land.

The boy’s grandmother, Maria Ramos, told FOX 35’s Hannah Mackenzie she had to drive three hours to pick her grandson up.

"I wanted to die. I said, ‘What do you mean he’s in Orlando airport?" Ramos said, recalling the moment she found out where Casper was. "I want to know what happened. How did he land in Orlando with nobody knowing he was on this flight?"

Casper was flying as an unaccompanied minor under the airline’s program for young travelers.

"Give me an explanation. Tell me how Casper got lost because he did get lost," Ramos said. "They didn’t know where Casper was at, they had no idea where was Casper."

Aviation expert Shem Malmquist said incidents like these are extremely rare.

"It’s just astounding; that should never, ever happen," Malmquist said. "It seems very difficult to have this happen because it would require several people to make a mistake all at the same time. In addition, now they’re on an airplane, and I guess it’s just by happenstance that the seat they’re taking wasn’t already occupied by someone else because that would set off a flag. So, this should be a really improbable event, and in my opinion, a colossal breakdown for the airlines."

Frontier Airlines apologized to the family for the error.  In the Spirit Airlines incident, the company said they fired an employee responsible."Getting rid of the employee might sound good, it might seem satisfying, but in the end, it will not prevent it from happening again," said Malmquist.

Malmquist said he hopes both incidents lead to comprehensive investigations and prompt stronger oversight from transportation authorities.