Careful Booking Online

[DandyDon]

Confused Tourist Lands in U.S., Not Australia


BERLIN (Dec. 29) - A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometres away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.

Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany Saturday for a four-week holiday.

Instead of arriving "down under," Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."

Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.

I do use airport codes for booking at times, but try to be careful about confirming the destination. He may have typed Sydney, tho, got a list of airports and clicked the wrong one. Perhaps there was a language problem. :shakehead

I did a SideStep.com search on flights to "Sydney" and it never asked which one - but spent several minutes searchin for flights to Australia.

 

[Garrobo]

About 10 years ago my wife, a Spanish speaker, once boarded a flight in NY, thinking she was on her way to Columbus, Ohio and ended up in Portland, Maine with no baggage. She was at the wrong gate and the gatekeeper boarded her anyway even though her ticket was posted for Col,s. Of course, she was a bit upset and bewildered but they gave her meals and a hotel room and sent her on her way the next morning. ****** me off because I had to make another 100 mile roundtrip to Col's airport to pick her up.

 

[DandyDon]

I've heard of people trying to book to Dallas TX over the phone ending up in Dulles outside of DC. I think the computer scanning of BPs will help some with your wives type of problem - I have seen that happen to others.

 

[ReefHound]

About 10 years ago my wife, a Spanish speaker, once boarded a flight in NY, thinking she was on her way to Columbus, Ohio and ended up in Portland, Maine with no baggage. She was at the wrong gate and the gatekeeper boarded her anyway even though her ticket was posted for Col,s.

That probably only happens when the wrong flight is cheaper than the booked flight.