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Elderly couple placed on wrong flight in South Florida; end up in New York, not Michigan

Posted at 6:21 AM, Mar 27, 2017
and last updated 2019-03-26 23:12:45-04

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A 96-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man were wheeled to the wrong gate at a South Florida airport and ended up on a flight to upstate New York instead of Michigan.

Helen Wheeker and her husband, George Nobel, ended up Ogdensburg, New York instead of Grand Rapids, Michigan after being put on the wrong Allegiant Air flight on Wednesday at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

 

South Florida television station WPLG reports that Allegiant Air spokeswoman Hilarie Grey blamed a malfunctioning boarding-pass scanner for not catching the mix-up.

Grey apologized for the mistake and says the couple has been given a full refund.

The couple flew back to Fort Lauderdale and planned to try again to fly to Michigan on Saturday.