Wrong Flight

[WorkingHard]

Serious question here folks please. On boarding a flight home the other day there was a bit of commotion further down the cabin about seats already being occupied when embarking passengers had the tickets still in their hands. We were checked on to the aircraft by 2 separate CC BUT and it is a big BUT, we were on the WRONG flight!!!!
Awhole train of people were then asked to disembark in order to board the correct flight further away. How could this happen and what is your take on it?
Thanks.

BTW it was a well known UK airline.

[fonejacker]

Sounds like a bit of a groundstaff cockup. Should have really been picked up by the crew member at the door though.

[FrankLeeSpeakin]

You think this is rare?
Two passengers for SUMBURGH were recently put on the STORNOWAY flight from EDI.
This happens somewhere every other week I'm sure because in my experience staff do NOT do their OWN job properly, as their mindset is "someone else will double check it".
Pay peanuts. Get monkeys.
:=

[6chimes]

Were any of the passengers transferring? If so they could have boarding cards with the code share flight numbers on when checked in by the other airline. The crew may have taken on trust the flight numbers as they were seeing so many.

If it was a short haul flight which would probably make up part of a multiple sector day the crew could become confused with flight numbers. Another factor could be the way crew are rostered these days. By adopting CAP 371 as a rostering bible and not as intended, a set of minimum/maximum rules to prevent fatigue, crew are increasingly worked to the max. It's a common problem amongst the crew fraternity, in that working like that will lead to errors. Can I honestly say that I have recognised and digested every one of the 400-600 boarding cards I may see in one day then multiply that by 5 or 6 for the week, no.

It also depends on where you boarded the aircraft, if it was from the rear doors there is the likelihood that junior crew were manning the doors at the rear. It may sound odd but they may not actually know the flight number of that flight. Simply because if you are doing a lot of sectors you may have only taken real notice of your first sector by which you can gauge what time you need to turn up for work. That does happen.

Essentially the gate staff should direct the right passengers to the right aircraft, particularly if more than one flight is boarding. In their defence, the customer service teams have been cut back in many airlines and there are times when there are not enough up at the gate to do the job.

There is slight complacency that the people who turn up at your door are indeed going to where you are! We are expecting the odd one that may slip through at the gate, but not a whole herd!

It seems a series of mistakes would lead to this and I would imagine some very serious questions are being asked of the relevant people. There is the very real possibility that people will lose their jobs. Which is a shame if one of the factors is people working to hard.

Should it of happened? Absolutely not. A wake up call for all concerned.

If it was a flight where the crew were only operating a single sector then the answers are far less appealing.

6

[WorkingHard]

OK thanks for the replies so far. To give you a little more detail without identifying the flight I will say it was a the second sector for the crew and the total 9including turn round) was 8hrs so whilst I appreciate how tiring the work load can be it could not be put down to fatigue. There was also an announcement to say where the aircraft was going and anyone NOT going there should disembark immediately!
I understand the ground staff were at fault but it is not the ground staff who are responsible for the aircraft. Of course it would be found on head counts etc if the flight had been half empty and whilst I sympathise with the CC they very clearly were not checking people on board properly. This applied to both front and rear embarkation.
Is there likely to be a change of procedures/training etc attached to this or will the company be unaware unless there is a complaint made? Should this be reported to the company without identifying the flight so that awareness is highlighted?

[frontcheck]

Sounds like there has been some sort of confusion or last minute gate/aircraft change, however the problem should have been picked up at the gate. If manual boarding was being done the gate agent would be looking at the boarding/sequence number as well as the flight number, you can input any boarding number and the system will accept it, it is up to the gate staff to ensure the boarding pass presented is correct for the flight being boarded, however like all areas of airlines these days staff are rostered to a minimum and pulled from pillar to post !
One of the benefits of automated boarding is bar-codes on the boarding card, the flight number is input at start of boarding process and if an incorrect boarding pass is presented there is a loud beep and a red error displayed on the screen. Much better system but not used by all airlines as it is more expensive !

[Dawdler]

I suppose something like this happens from time to time. Put it down to human error. I imagine that had the flight not been full and a dispute over seating not occurred, the baggage of passengers on wrong plane would have been unaccompanied to the original destination.

Some years ago I was allocated a seat (13A) at check in, when I got to the departure lounge, (we were checked into the lounge rather than through the gate) the staff took my boarding pass and issued me with another nominating a new seat. "We are not using row 13 this flight." I was told. I duly sat in my new seat and soon it was apparent that there was something amiss. No less than four members of the crew did a head count. Much scratching of heads, finally I was called by name to identify myself, which I did. I was asked quite agressively "Why are you not sitting in your allocated seat?" I explained that I was and produce my BP stub. Silence. I was left with the feeling that the delay was my fault, and the in-flight service reflected that to the destination.

D.

[Baz50]

As a passenger I always thought when boarding the aircraft the cabin crew were checking not just my seat number to direct me in the right direction but also the flight number and date on the boarding card to ensure I was on the correct aircraft and of course for security reasons.

[fonejacker]

It gives me untold pleasure when SLF attempt to barge past me at the fwd door stating their allocated seat number.

Whilst the ability to recite a one/two numbers followed by a letter is remarkable, the aforementioned flight number/destination combo is marginally more important at that stage of proceedings.

[nuigini]

Crew are meant to check flight number, destination, date and seat number on the boarding card.

[Hotel Tango]

Crew are meant to check flight number, destination, date and seat number on the boarding card.

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.

[Businesstraveller]

I used to wonder how nessecary it was for cc to check ticket stubs when boarding the aircraft, given paxwill have had them checked only moments ago by the ground staff. I got my answer about a year ago when I was waiting my flight to depart for Edinburgh, when the cc at the front informed a boarding pax that their ticket was for Glasgow! Responsibility for pax and ground staff there I think.

A little off topic, but I was boarding a recent flight (BHX-EDI) when it was announced by ground staff that the the BHX-EDI and BHX-GLS flights were being combined (they have a track record of doing this) and therefore seating allocations were null and void and seating was 'free'. It somewhat caused further confusion when boarding pax asked the cc (and I really don't know why they felt the need to ask, having been given explicit guidance from the ground staff) if it was 'free' seating. As the cc responded saying that pax had to take their seats, which stopped working when the different flight seating conflicts started to become apparent.

[The SSK]

I’ve sat myself down on the wrong aircraft and got picked up on the headcount. It was in Budapest, in Communist days, and the level of security and scrutiny was very high, which made it all the more remarkable. I was with my two kids and we were the last to leave the lounge, having faffed about trying to spend the last of our Hungarian currency. Seems that the gate led to a Y-shaped airbridge and the corridor to our flight (Brussels) was already closed off – we just followed the other one and found an identical aeroplane (Malev Tu-134) to the one we were expecting. The crew waved us on board, we found our seats and sat down. Seems we were on the Zurich flight. Luckily it was sorted before either flight departed.

[nuigini]

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 only said crew are meant to check it!

Do it by the book and you will have your back covered. If you delay the flight, explain that boarding time isn't obviously enough time as you need to check all that information on the boarding card.

[FrankLeeSpeakin]

At the risk of pointing to the elephant in the kitchen here, its the TURNAROUND time that is the big issue here.
Pressure pressure pressure.
I was a dispatcher for my sins many moons ago when it was a real tizzy to get an Eazy turned in 20 minutes and they suddenly wanted to see if they could do it in FIFTEEN.
Stupid. Bloody stupid. I didn't have to tell them so as they sent a top bod to watch me do one - it was a half-load (about 45 actually so not even that for a 73-200) and I did it in 20 minutes, explaining everything to the observer as I did so. She could see what was involved, listened to the R/T, watched me fill out a manual load sheet (the CODECO system often went down...sigh), count the bags and tally up the stickers on the card etc etc etc.
I cant remember if they ever DID reduce the turnaround times.....

[bondim]

no, they haven't. its vetween 20-45 mins now, depending on airport.

[TSR2]

Eazy ....... 73-200 ....... are you sure.

[FrankLeeSpeakin]

Yes.
Photograph of Aircraft G-BECG (http://www.caa.co.uk/applicationmodules/ginfo/ginfo_photo.aspx?regmark=G-BECG&imgname=G-BECG001&imgtype=jpg)
They were sold on shortly after I left (coincidence honest) and they moved on to the 300/400 series and eventually took on some A319s etc etc.
Remember I said this was many moons ago - maybe 10-12 years, before they expanded. Back then the only service Eazy did from Scottish airports were to to LTN.


Acording to EasyJet - EZU - Read reviews (http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/EasyJet_EZU__95668:)
...this year. ***A Bit of easyJet History*** easyJet Airline was founded in 1995 by the now famous Cypriot, Stelios Haji-Ioannou. With a loan from his father he leased two Boeing 737-200 aircraft and began operating flights from London Luton, where the head office "easyLand" is based, to Glasgow and Edinburgh, using contractors to supply nearly all the staff throughout the airline. Stelios retired as chairman in 2002 but has now back on the ......


The two a/c being the aformentioned G-BECG and G-BECH, now re-registered in the US I think.

[urok]

While this is unfortunate, and annoying for all concerned, it does happen.
Give a crew member in the vicinity of 12 minutes to board 190 passengers, whilst checking not only flight numbers but for hot beverages, mobile phones, electronics, cabin baggage, signs of intoxication, dangerous goods etc etc.... All you've got to do is add another flight with a similar flight number (such as the last number a 4 or a 9 for example) and a passenger who has simply followed the flock so to speak, as opposed to reading signs and listening to announcements, and wazzam!
A very unfortunate by-product of the whole "every extra minute spent on the ground equals so many thousands of dollars to the airline" mentality! Nothing to do with paying peanuts and getting monkeys, and everything to do with airlines adding enormous pressure on staff to work with stupidly short turn-arounds, scheduling down to minutes, and even 30-second blocks. OTP means everything.
Not safe, not perfect, not even desireable for our passengers, but try telling that to the bosses in the ivory towers....

[Sparelung]

I was called off a bus to the aircraft for a connection flight in Germany, because the gate staff had let me through onto a flight that had a similar flight number but was 2 hours earlier than the one I was supposed to be on (my fault, but I jumped off one aircraft half-asleep, to see what I thought was my next one boarding...)

They swapped my ticket so I could stay on that flight, which was a result because it was about £100 more expensive than the one I had booked! Thanks Lufthansa!

[girtbar]

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!

[flygirl28]

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.

[malagamike]

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.

[sunnybunny]

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?

[LH2]

How could this happen and what is your take on it?

Unless it's very obvious, I'm in the habit of actually asking the crew if they're going to the same place as I intend to. You never know :ok:

[amalfi]

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.

[theredbarron]

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 !

Hey, that's what makes it all so interesting !:O

[dscartwright]

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.

[Dolley]

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.

That's my opinion anyway.

[come_flyin]

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!

[chips101]

''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!!!

[farty ferret]

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:ugh:

[ian white]

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.