United Airlines flies woman to San Francisco instead of France
United Airlines apologized again this weekend for sending a French woman on a 3,000 mile trip in the wrong direction.
Lucie Bahetoukilae was supposed to fly rom Newark, N.J., to Paris. Instead, she found herself flying to San Francisco after she was mistakenly allowed to board the wrong plane, reports WABC.
Bahetoukilae only speaks French and allowed her niece to speak on her behalf. She said the airline changed the flight’s gate at the last minute, and failed to notify the passengers via email. Then she says the airline did not announce the gate change in French, despite the original flight being bound for Paris.
"If they would have made the announcement in French, she would she have moved gates," Bahetoukilae’s niece, Diane Miantsoko, told WABC.
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Not aware of the change, Bahetoukilae gave her ticket to the gate agent who scanned it and allowed her to board. When she arrived at her row, however, Bahetoukilae found another passenger seated in her spot.
She showed her ticket to a flight attendant, who, instead of noticing the airline’s error, simply sat Bahetoukilae in an empty seat.
WABC reports that her boarding pass clearly read "Newark to Charles de Gaulle."
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Instead of flying to France, she took a 7 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco, 3,000 miles in the wrong direciton. The she spent 11 hours on a layover, waiting for the next flight to France.
In total, she spent more than 28 hours trying to reach her initial destination.
"We deeply apologize to Ms. Bahetoukilae for this unacceptable experience," United said in an emailed statement to Fox News. "When she arrived in San Francisco, we ensured she got on the next flight to Paris and refunded her ticket. Our customer care team has reached out to her directly to ensure we make this right. We are also working with our team in Newark to prevent this from happening again."
The airline - which recently settled with David Dao, the 69-year-old passenger who was forcibly removed from a flight in early April - had also offered Bahetoukilae a full refund and a voucher for another United flight, reports WABC.