The teen was supposed to fly to Cleveland, Ohio, on a Dec. 22 flight out of Tampa International Airport but “mistakenly boarded a different flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico,” a spokesperson for the airline company said.
Both flights departed from the same gate, with the San Juan flight departing first, Frontier said.
The teen was immediately flown back to Tampa and put on a flight to Cleveland the following day.
Ryan Lose told “NBC Nightly News” that his son, Logan Lose, was nervous about flying alone for the first time and checked with the gate agent before boarding his flight. Ryan Lose said the agent checked his son’s baggage and looked at his boarding pass but did not scan it.
When the plane landed in Puerto Rico, Logan frantically texted his family.
“I could feel the fear in the text messages. I could feel how scared he was,” the teen’s father said. “My heart pretty much sank at that point because there was nothing I could do.”
The teen eventually arrived in Cleveland, where he was visiting his mother for Christmas, on Dec. 23.
Frontier Airlines said it allows children 15 and older to fly alone and does not have an “unaccompanied minor program” that provides escorts for minors.
“Frontier has extended its sincere apologies to the family for the error,” the spokesperson said.
In a separate incident last week, a 6-year-old child flying on Spirit Airlines from Philadelphia to Fort Myers, Florida was incorrectly put on a plane headed for Orlando. The airline said the agent responsible was no longer working for the company.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
