It happens often enough that i can't understand why some airlines including a certain major airline in the UK don't head counts.
Just recently the said carrier had left a wheelchair passenger sitting on the tarmac waiting to board, she watched the a/c push back and only when the wheelchair guys started making a faff the a/c was pushed back on stand with a "tech" problem and wheelchair pax quickly and quietly loaded!
Headcounts depending on the aircraft type (the more pax, the harder it becomes) are not fool proof and open to crew error. How many times have you done a transit stop followed by a head count and had to redo and redo and redo until the count is finally right?
I agree with Hotel Tango....the whole point of having crew members at the door is not just to meet and greet but to ensure pax are on the correct flight. As an ex purser, i would happily delay the flight to do this and write on my flight report the reason why the flight was delayed i.e boarding. I am sure no one in management would even think to question a delayed departure for what amounts to security reasons.
it is also possible that the flight was boarded manually - ie the machine that reads the boarding cards at the gate often go down or just dont function well. to save time and avoid delay the flight is boarded by removing the stump, putting it to one side then when its assumed that the flight is correct at gate the sequence numbers are manually input into the system. the chances are that any pax who have boarded the wrong flight will have it picked up by the cabin crew on inspection of boarding card at aircraft door, or, by the gate staff who end up putting the same sequence number in twice which means the machine will reject or highlight it as an error message will appear on the screen.
Some years ago elderley couple got on my Flight to Las Palmas and it wasn't till someone else found their allocated seats occupied it was realised they really wanted to go to Palma.
Has anyone ever been delivered to the wrong destination? What happens in that case?
Never underestimate the ability of SLF to surprise us!
I was groundstaff at Aberdeen a very long time ago. Two of us were doing the boarding for an early morning HS748 departure to Shetland. There were two company 748s parked line astern on the ramp. All 21 pax went through my BP check at the gate, one after the other. 19 of them managed to follow my colleague to the correct (rear) aircraft. A few minutes later a headcount showed 2 missing.
They had of course boarded the other aircraft which was both dark (no cabin lights on) and otherwise deserted. Undeterred by the darkness, the absence of cabin crew and the fact that all the other pax had disappeared, they had managed to find the correct seat numbers, sat down and strapped in!
I've always wondered how long they would have sat there if we had left them alone.
Two tales, the first from many years ago: two DanDair comets are parked on adjacent stands at Glasgow Airport. One destined for (if I remember correctly) Barcelona and the other for one of the Italian holiday airports. Pax and bags all loaded and off they went. Only problem was that all the Barcelona bags were on the Italy-bound aircraft while the Italian bags were merrily going round on the carousel waiting collection at Barcelona. Took a locally chartered DC3 to swap them over.
More recently on a flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh, the skipper was doing his spiel while we taxied out and just as he said "our flying time to Edinburgh will be..." a panicking lady passenger stood up and announced that she was going to Belfast ! She should have been too !
I currently fly weekly from JER to LGW, and the standard of checks on the ground varies widely from week to week. Sometimes you arrive at the JER boarding gate and have your boarding card and photo ID thoroughly checked. Other times there's nobody there when you arrive, so you just wander in and sit yourself down. When this happens, you sometimes have your docs checked on your way out of the door to the aircraft, but other times you don't. So on a few occasions the only opportunity to spot an error is upon boarding the aircraft.
Going the other way, I find excellent consistency - I always get my boarding pass and ID checked at LGW, and I've seen several instances in the last few weeks of passengers turning up at the wrong gate and being sent off in the right direction by the gate staff.
Yes, it's the cabin crew's job to do the check. However, if they have been led to believe that the ground staff have already made a preliminary check, but those ground staff don't do so consistently, it's understandable if the CC miss the odd one whilst trying to get people on board and the flight away.
Do it by the book for 150 odd pax boarding through one door and you will delay the flight by about 15 minutes. Most of the wrong aircraft scenarios are when pax have to walk from terminal to aircraft whilst boarding is taking place on adjacent stands.
I beg to differ.
I work for a low cost airline in the UK with short turn around times. I board up to four times during a duty that may be as long as 12 hours (without delays). I assure you that I check flight number, destination, date and departure airport (no seat numbers because of free seating policy) on every single boarding card that goes through my hand. I also will not stop head counting until I have the correct figure at least twice. And I rarely ever delay a flight due to either of these reasons. It can be done in the allocated time. If I have to delay a flight because of it then I would happily do so.
The only time I had a passenger for a different destination on board was down to a crew member at the other door. And it wasn't because that crew member didn't do her job properly, it was a simple human error. She was absolutely mortified. It is because I have seen people make genuine mistakes like this that I take my time to get it right....which is still no guarantee that it might not happen to me one day. After all, we are all just human. But I disagree with the attitude to not even try to get it right as it will supposedly delay the flight by 15 minutes as this is simply not true.
yeah a total cockup by the sounds of it but hey try checking the seat number, date, flight number for over 300 people! your eyes are going sideways after the first 50! oh and you also have to say hello and welcome them, use their name and direct them to the right side of the aircraft! and like you said.. already after doing an 8hour shift!
''There was also an announcement to say where the aircraft was going and anyone NOT going there should disembark immediately!''
Uhhmmm...... All the passengers should have disembarked and a full security check of the cabin made! DFT requirement when any passenger boards but then does not fly!!!
Our company policy is to check all boarding cards and do a head count. The thing that amazes me is the abuse you get from the passengers!! They tut and roll their eyes and sometimes refuse to get the boarding card back out of the bottom of the bag they have just put it in to. Drives me nuts
Some years ago I flew Delta from JFK to MAN. During the long taxi at Kennedy the flight track appeared on the sceen showing a big arc over the atlantic to the UK. A noise erupted from economy and two oriental gentlemen came rushing forward. The two pax were ticketed and paid the fare from Seoul to Man. They wanted to go to Manchester New Hampshire. A long delay ensued and two very embarassed gentlemen were offloaded. Nobody but the Korean travel agent at fault but if they had checked their itin a 7hr sector from NYC to New Hampshire should have been a clue.
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