# Man sues British Airways over wrong destination **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534 "2014-06-24T14:13:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/21 "2014-06-24T17:12:57Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Besides, there’s probably plenty to do in Grenada - for example, find the spot where the USA’s mid-1980s invasion first landed. I know a great little restaurant, right on the harbor. Seriously, I do. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/22 "2014-06-24T17:17:42Z")
Wait a minute, something is fishy here. The dentist claims that “just the city name” was displayed on the ticket (per the linked article). But there’s no city of Grenada in Grenada, so far as I can tell. In fact, [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Grenada)says that Grenada’s airports are in the cities of St. Georges and Grenville. So if the ticket only had a city name, it would not have shown Grenada, because that is a _country_ name. It makes no sense to me that a ticket would show only a country name without any city or airport information. So I’m calling BS on the dentists’ story unless someone can show me an e-ticket that matches what he says about them. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/23 "2014-06-24T17:25:03Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That is: (a) assuming everything in the complaint is true, and (b) assuming the e-ticket was all they sent him, which is highly doubtful. The last time I booked with BA (online, not via their call center, admittedly) I got half a dozen confirmation e-mails, at least three of which specified the destination airport, city and country. I find it very hard to believe that, even if the e-ticket itself did not contain the information, that he wouldn’t have received a confirmation e-mail with the itinerary spelled out in detail. I’ve never received just an e-ticket without the corresponding info in the e-mail. However, why a BA agent would ever dream of booking a flight from Dulles to Grenada via Gatwick boggles the mind. Anyone in their right mind would have booked a ticket on a different airline to fly from Dulles to Grenada, since BA doesn’t have any direct flight, although they have direct flights from Gatwick to Grenada. You would have thought that an agent hearing such an outlandish itinerary as Dulles-Gatwick-Grenada-Gatwick-Lisbon-Dulles would have queried the customer on it. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s the odd thing: BA always used to check passports for international flights to make sure you had the appropriate visa, and I assume they still do. Maybe Americans don’t need visas to fly into Grenada. Americans don’t need visas for Grenada, like most Caribbean islands. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/24 "2014-06-24T17:51:21Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Wait a minute, something is fishy here. > > The dentist claims that “just the city name” was displayed on the ticket (per the linked article). But there’s no city of Grenada in Grenada, so far as I can tell. In fact, [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Grenada)says that Grenada’s airports are in the cities of St. Georges and Grenville. > > So if the ticket only had a city name, it would not have shown Grenada, because that is a _country_ name. It makes no sense to me that a ticket would show only a country name without any city or airport information. > > So I’m calling BS on the dentists’ story unless someone can show me an e-ticket that matches what he says about them. I thought of that, too. Maybe the ticket just said “GRENADA”. He would have assumed that was just a city (with no country) when in reality it was the country (with no city). > [@Colibri](#): > > However, why a BA agent would ever dream of booking a flight from Dulles to Grenada via Gatwick boggles the mind. Anyone in their right mind would have booked a ticket on a different airline to fly from Dulles to Grenada, since BA doesn’t have any direct flight, although they have direct flights from Gatwick to Grenada. You would have thought that an agent hearing such an outlandish itinerary as Dulles-Gatwick-Grenada-Gatwick-Lisbon-Dulles would have queried the customer on it. I wonder what kind of plane they have on that Gatwick-Grenada route. (BA’s website says it stops at St. Lucia on the way.) The airport at St. Georges ain’t exactly huge. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/25 "2014-06-24T18:06:51Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > But to not notice the error on the ticket, or presumably in the price (Caribbean being a tonne more expensive to fly to than Spain from the UK), or on the departure boards at the airport, or at the check-in desk, or when they were calling his flight? Does this guy wander round with a bag on his head? If nothing else, the plane to Grenada would have been cleaner and damper, the rain in Spain falling mostly on the plane, and all. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/26 "2014-06-24T18:16:29Z")
I often type DAC instead of DCA when booking flights to and from DC. Haven’t ended up in Dhaka yet, but I could see it happening during a busy travel time when I’m really frazzled. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/27 "2014-06-24T18:39:42Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Caveat Emptor > > I went to university in Wisconsin and would book flights home for the holidays. The nearest airport to my mother was GreenVILLE, SOUTH Carolina (GSP). > > I made the bookings in person as this was in the pre-internet days. About half the time the travel agent would book me to GreenSBORO, NORTH Carolina (GSO) or Greenville, NORTH Carolina (PGV). Even providing the travel agent the airport code to my destination airport was not a guarantee. For me, it was the one time the agent booked me to Portland, OR, not Portland, ME. Luckily it was noticed before the day of travel and corrected - I noticed it because I read the tickets, this being back in the days of paper tickets too. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/28 "2014-06-24T18:41:33Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > If nothing else, the plane to Grenada would have been cleaner and damper, the rain in Spain falling mostly on the plane, and all. Nice try, but Flywheel wins the [“snappy answers award”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17489963&postcount=7) for this thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/29 "2014-06-24T18:50:49Z")
On first glance, I thought the dentist was mostly to blame. He certainly should have checked the itinerary more carefully, regardless of what was or wasn’t on the e-tickets. However, BA gave egregiously bad customer service when booking the tickets. Even if the agent had misheard Granada as Grenada, he or she should have immediately recognized that a Dulles-Gatwick-Grenada-Lisbon-Dulles itinerary was absurd. It would make some sense of the dentist had only booked the Gatwick-Granada/Grenada section by phone, but with a Dulles origin the Grenada routing is completely ridiculous. I think the agent, when confronted with such a bizarre itinerary, was obligated to make absolutely sure that’s what the customer intended. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/30 "2014-06-24T19:42:37Z")
Reminds me of [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2172858.stm) story where a couple accidentally honeymoons in Sydney, Nova Scotia, instead of the one in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/31 "2014-06-24T20:30:09Z")
Every now and then, someone comes to Carlsbad, California, and asks, “Where are the caverns?” To me, this sounds like the Mrs. Fields Cookie legend, where the clerk on the phone says, “Three fifty” and the customer thinks it’s three dollars and fifty cents, and only later finds it’s three hundred and fifty dollars. i.e., bullshit. At some point, someone would have said, “You’ll be landing in St. Georges at four forty-five” and the cat would be out of the bag. If the guy never examined any of the paperwork he was given – passport control? – then he’s an ass. (Even so, were I the airline, I’d refund his ticket for good p.r. But no joy in making up his tours, hotel, etc. See you in court, molar boy.) ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/32 "2014-06-24T20:42:43Z")
I say this is a BA screwup, for this reason: this guy bought cash first class tickets on the phone. These types of customers have got to be some of the most profitable for the airline, so they really should never have let it get this far - aka, a first class ticket should really make this all go away, at least getting him back to where he belongs and such. Covering his tours and whatnot, maybe not, but it shouldn’t even be a question to fly him to the correct destination on a paid first class ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/33 "2014-06-24T21:45:18Z")
I once boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon bound for San Jose, California. The cabin crew made a couple of announcements indicating that “this aircraft is going to SAN JOSE CALIFORNIA, so if you’re trying to get to San Jose, Costa Rica, you are on the WRONG PLANE”. After the _second_ announcement, two people got up and deplaned :eek Now then, full disclosure: I once was boarded on the wrong flight. It was early Sunday morning at Schipol, and I’d got good and drunk the night before so I was looking AND feeling my best, as the song goes. I was taking BA to London so of course there were flights leaving every 15 minutes or so on that route. The gate agent told me to board another London flight, not the one I was ticketed for. Even in my impaired state I noticed the difference in the flight numbers and questioned the agent. She said something to the effect of oh, whatever, just get on the plane, and so I did. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/34 "2014-06-24T22:09:07Z")
I was standing in line at a post office in Malaysia, a few miles outside of Kuala Lumpur, behind a professor from Poland who was trying to mail a package addressed to the embassy of Poland in Kuala Lumpur. The postal clerk charged him the postage to send it to Warsaw, Poland. The professor noticed the huge price difference at once, was rather upset to see them make such a stupid mistake with his mail, and told them to correct it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/35 "2014-06-24T22:30:28Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Reminds me of the incident (both real life and, later, on _Full House_) where somebody had a ticket to fly to Oakland (California) and ended up in Auckland, New Zealand. I never did figure out how he managed to do it without going through customs. > > Besides, there’s probably plenty to do in Grenada - for example, find the spot where the USA’s mid-1980s invasion first landed. > [@suranyi](#): > > The Auckland incident actually occurred. Many people are confused about how it could have happened, but I remember the details: > > Air New Zealand had a flight at the time that went London - Los Angeles - Auckland. As far as I know, they still offer this flight. > > The passengers in question (PIQ) in question had booked a flight from London to Oakland, with the itinerary London - Los Angeles - Oakland, on Air New Zealand for the first leg, then a connection in Los Angeles to their short flight to Oakland. > > When the plane landed in Los Angeles, the flight attendant announced that passengers continuing to Auckland should remain on the plane. The PIQ misheard, and so stayed on the plane all the way to Auckland. > > You see why this gets around the problem of going through customs. They were already on the plane to Auckland. They had gone through passport control back in London. They simple didn’t get off when they should have. I was going to mention this incident. [Here’s the article from 1985](http://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-02/news/mn-19265_1_customs-officials). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/36 "2014-06-24T23:09:09Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Reminds me of the incident (both real life and, later, on _Full House_) where somebody had a ticket to fly to Oakland (California) and ended up in Auckland, New Zealand. I never did figure out how he managed to do it without going through customs. > [@suranyi](#): > > You see why this gets around the problem of going through customs. They were already on the plane to Auckland. They had gone through passport control back in London. They simple didn’t get off when they should have. It’s not really relevant to that incident since the guy just stayed on the plane, but neither the US nor Britain have exit controls, so you don’t go through customs or passport control when _leaving_ either county. And in the US, international departures aren’t necessarily segregated, so an international flight might be right next to a domestic flight with only the airline keeping the wrong people from getting on the plane. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/37 "2014-06-25T01:03:33Z")
One problem is that airplane tickets state the times of departure and arrival in local time (in the respective cities). So a 6-hour flight West from London to the Caribbean with a 4-time-zone difference can look very similar to a 1-hour flight East from London to Spain with a 1-time-zone difference. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/38 "2014-06-25T01:17:22Z")
> [@Dr.Woo](#): > > I’d got good and drunk the night before so I was looking AND feeling my best, as the song goes. Nice reference. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/39 "2014-06-25T01:36:37Z")
Hope he’s a better dentist than a wanna-be lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534/40 "2014-06-25T12:51:27Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That is: (a) assuming everything in the complaint is true, and (b) assuming the e-ticket was all they sent him, which is highly doubtful. The last time I booked with BA (online, not via their call center, admittedly) I got half a dozen confirmation e-mails, at least three of which specified the destination airport, city and country. But if they put the country name, it looks like the CITY name. Maurice Biship International Airport, Grenada. IATA: GND – ICAO: TGPY [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-sues-british-airways-over-wrong-destination/691534.md?page=3)