Woman gets on wrong plane and ends up in foreign country without a passport

08 May 2023 , 16:30

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Beverly Ellis-Hebard is a self-described seasoned traveler (Image: ABC 7)

A woman set to fly to Florida managed to end up 900 miles away in a different country after she managed to board the wrong flight, making the journey without her passport.

Beverly Ellis-Hebard often flies between her two homes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Jacksonville, Florida. As these are domestic flights, she does not need a passport to travel between the two states.

However, on one journey out to her Florida home, Beverly ended up on a flight set to land 900 miles away in Jamaica. She booked the flights with Frontier Airlines, saying: "I fly once every six weeks. I picked Frontier flights because we flew so often."

She arrived at the Frontier Airlines gate for her flight from Philadelphia to Jackson on November 6, and noted that the board at the gate said PHL to JAX. Still recovering from back surgery and so not able to move as fast as usual, Beverly asked a staff member if she had time to pop to the restroom before getting on the flight.

Woman gets on wrong plane and ends up in foreign country without a passport qeithiqttiqukinv

Beverly was supposed to be flying from Philadelphia to Jackson, but instead found herself heading to Jamaica (ABC 7)

She recalled that the agent told he she had "about 20 minutes". But when she returned a short time later she found that the flight was almost fully boarded, with the door about to close.

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She went to the gate to board her flight and was stopped by an agent who wanted to check the size of her carry-on bag. So, Beverly told ABC 7 she put it into the baggage sizer.

"I put it in and when I went to take it out my arm got all scraped up. I was bleeding," she said.

Recalling what happened next, she said she was then hurried by the gate agent to board as the flight was ready to go. "She said 'Come on, come on. Give me your boarding pass.' I would say I took about ten steps, and she said, 'Are you Beverly Ellis-Hebard?' I said, 'You just had my boarding pass. You just checked me in. yes!' She said. 'All right, go! Go.'"

Woman gets on wrong plane and ends up in foreign country without a passport

Beverly chose to fly with Frontier as she flies so frequently (AFP via Getty Images)

After the rush to board the plane, crew tending to her scrape told her she'd be able to relax once they landed, in Jamaica.

"I laughed", she recalled. "I said 'I would love to be going there but I have a beach where I live'. She said. 'Look at me. This plane is going to Jamaica.' And I knew by the look on her face she wasn't joking."

Beverly realised she had ended up boarding the wrong flight after a last-minute gate change took place while she was in the bathroom.

Beverly was shocked to learn that she was headed to Jamaica without a passport (ABC 7)

Given she was expecting to fly domestically, Beverly didn't even have her passport. She said she was told: "You're entering a different country without a passport. That's bad."

Thankfully, once the plane landed Beverly was allowed to stay in the jetway - the boarding tunnel between the terminal gate and the plane - as it was still considered US soil.

The flight crew remained with her while she waited for the next flight to Philadelphia, which took off several hours later. A spokesperson for Frontier Airlines said they had refunded her original ticket and given her a $600 (£474) flight voucher.

They 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."