Woman accidentally flies to wrong country without a passport after gate mixup

07 May 2023 , 09:29

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The woman from New Jersey managed to fly to Jamaica without a passport (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

A woman claims a mixup at her gate in an airport led her to accidentally fly to Jamaica.

Beverly Ellis-Hebard arrived for her flight on November 6 last year and was scheduled to fly to Florida, but quickly went to the bathroom before her Frontier Airlines flight.

“I fly once every six weeks. I picked Frontier flights because we flew so often,” she told WPVI.

When she came back, Beverly said she had to rush onto the plane at the airport in Philadelphia because it was nearly fully boarded.

Beverly claimed the gate attendant told her "Come on, come on, give me your boarding pass" and asked her to confirm her name was Beverly Ellis-Hebard.

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She explained: "I said, ‘You just had my boarding pass. You just checked me in. Yes!’ She said, ‘All right, go! Go.'”

Beverly didn't know she was on the wrong plane until a flight attendant told her (Getty Images)

Beverly often flies between Philadelphia to Jacksonville as she has a second home in the Sunshine State and thought everything was normal.

It wasn't until she was mid-flight that the cabin crew told the New Jersey resident that she was actually bound for Jamaica.

She initially thought the flight attendant was joking, but the look on her face said otherwise, the frequent flyer said.

"I laughed. I said ‘I would love to be going there but I have a beach where I live.

"[They] said, ‘Look at me. This plane is going to Jamaica.’ And I knew by the look on her face she wasn’t joking."

The cabin crew stayed with her when the plane landed on the Caribbean island as she was unable to leave because of her lack of a passport.

A Frontier Airlines spokesperson said the company had apologised to Beverly and given her a refund.

The spokesperson said: "We sincerely regret that the customer was able to board the wrong flight and have extended our apologies.

"We have provided her with a refund and compensation as well as addressed the matter with airport personnel."

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The trip also saw poor Beverly scrape her arm when she put her bag baggage sizer.

At the start of the month, an unrelated incident saw passengers on a Frontier Airlines plane at Trenton-Mercer Airport in New Jersey voted off by passengers.

Benjamin Lynch