Every person has strengths and weaknesses and sometime siblings could not be more different. But I’m struck by the stark contrast between a 16-year-old who boarded the wrong Frontier Airlines flight and his 9-year-old bother who seemed to have no trouble determining his brother was at the wrong gate.
Wrong Flight: Teenager Flies To Puerto Rico Instead Of Ohio On Frontier Airlines
Frontier Airlines does not offer an unaccompanied minor program, but like most US carriers allows teenagers aged 15 and older to fly unaccompanied. I started flying solo when I was 17 and was thankful for the ability to fly even when I was not technically old enough to check into hotels myself or rent cars.
Logan Lose, 16, was scheduled to fly from Tampa (TPA) to Cleveland (CLE) on December 22, 2023 on Frontier Airlines. His father and step mother are in Florida while his mother is in Ohio. But instead, he “mistakenly boarded a different flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico” (this per Frontier Airlines). It went something like this:
- Logan arrived at the gate early, where a Frontier flight to San Juan (SJU) was departing ahead of his flight to Cleveland (CLE).
- Logan’s father told CNN, “He went up there and asked the lady if the flight was boarding, and they said, ‘yes,’ and they also checked his bag to make sure it fit.”
- “But Logan said they never scanned his ticket. Logan said they just glanced at it and said, ‘Yes, you’re on the right flight,’ and then he boarded.”
- Logan let his mother know he was onboard, who let her ex know.
- But something did not add up: it was too early.
- Per Logan’s father, “That’s when my 9-year-old son looked up the flight status and realized that a flight to Puerto Rico had just taken off from the same gate Logan’s Ohio flight was taking off from.”
- He tried calling Logan to let him know he was on the wrong flight, but it was too late…his phone was already switched off.
- Next he called Frontier Airlines who promised to call him back.
- 90 minutes later they did, conforming he was on the wrong flight.
- When Logan landed in San Juan, he was placed back on the same aircraft returning to Tampa, flew back to Florida, then boarded a connecting flight to Cleveland four hours later.
It’s an interesting story because this is not a six-year-old (like Spirit Airlines recently lost) but a 16-year-old old enough to travel alone. While Frontier has not confirmed whether everything occurred the way Logan described it (i.e. no scanning his boarding pass), it makes sense…how else would he get onboard? On the other hand, was the flight so lightly booked that he took his assigned seat on the Cleveland flight that happened to be unoccupied on the San Juan flight?
What gets me is that Logan’s 9-year-old bother (could be a brother from another mother) was the one who looked up the flight status and realized that the Puerto Rico flight took off from the same gate. How exactly did he do that? I know other nine years olds (and my own seven year old son) who are quite savvy on airline apps, but that’s rather impressive if true.
This story has made headlines around the world but I feel like it may be unfair to place all the blame on Frontier Airlines, even if the gate agent failed to scan his boarding pass. The bulk of the blame does, I suppose, but wouldn’t the teen 1.) look up at the boarding gate, 2.) listen for the confirmation of where the flight was heading once onboard, 3.) realize the flight was boarding too early, and 4.) chat with his dad once onboard?
I don’t know the answer…maybe he did nothing wrong. Not everyone is taught from a young age to travel alone. But perhaps his parents should not have let him travel alone if he was not up to the task?
CONCLUSION
What strikes me as most interesting about this story is that the 9-year-old apparently determined that his 16-year-old brother boarded the wrong flight. I know we sometimes get anxious when doing something new for the first time, but I’m not quite ready to place all the blame on Frontier Airlines for failing to scan his boarding pass.
image: Frontier Airlines
Is it really necessary to (literally) “name and shame” a teenager here?
he’s 16. He can drive. He can be named
How could this happen?
The 9 year old was a young Ben Schlapig. The 16 year old was a young Matt Klint.
Not true. The reverse is true
Really pathetic to blame a child here. Blame the parents. In both incidents. For flying their kids on Spirit and Frontier.
16 is old enough to operate a motor vehicle, pass an exam and navigate the streets. Forgive me for being suspicious that something else may be afoot here. My first instinct would be to examine all phone activity, especially between the brothers. Said with motherly love.
You would have thought that he would have heard the welcome aboard from either the pilot or flight attendant that said “Welcome aboard Frontier flight XXXX to San Juan, we have a flight time of 1:22” Then he could have raised his hand and said that wasn’t his destination. Seeing as he was 16, he was probably traveling with headphones on and likely missed that key piece of information. Should have been caught at the gate with the gate agent. There is definitely shared blame here, the gate agent and the kid himself. He’s old enough to know to look at the departure board and see that it was the flight to San Juan that was boarding, not the flight to Cleveland. Also, the gate agent for not scanning his boarding pass that was have set off alarms that was not the right flight.
Wrong! He definitely had his huge headphones on listening to some shitty music or watching YouTube so he didn’t hear anything. Probably had his hoodie on top of his head so didn’t really look around him. Lost generation.
Look around you on a flight, many adults tune out everything once they get to their seat.
Yes, they do. But they are on the right flight.
But, considering all he really wanted to do that night was sit around an fiddle with his phone, while staring blankly ahead and being minimally aware of his life, and this flight mix up gave him even more time to do just this, didn’t he actually succeed in doing what he wanted to do?
This generation is an almost total failure. A few of them will thrive due to lack of competition since the majority is dumber than a door knob. All they know is to operate a smartphone and post stupid things on social media. Nothing else. It is a great opportunity for the smarter ones.
Interesting observation. Throughout history we’ve never seen an older generation think the “kids” were dumb and lazy. This is definitely uncharted territory.
I noticed the same thing that the 16 year old is dumb, boarding and departing 2 hours early and his kid brother being smarter
The airline may legally be at fault but the teen is such an idiot
So when will the lawsuit against Frontier be filed claiming extreme mental trauma to both the 16-to and the mother and dad? Coming soon, I have no doubt, if not already done. Santastico, you are so right.
The gate agent did not follow procedure. If they had scanned the boarding pass AS THEY AEE REQUIRED TO DO, there would not have been an issue. What if the plane had an emergency? The airline would not even know who was onboard. The agent should and likely will be terminated. The blame rests with the trained airline employee. Period.
I think the bulk of the blame does, but I would hope that we can all do a better job of helping our children to be a bit more situationally aware.
Over the years I have seen many adults acknowledge being on the wrong plane. If it can happen to adults…
Hey – it’s the middle of winter and Puerto Rico sounds much more appealing than Cleveland!!! Maybe he’s not so dumb and clueless after all…..
My thoughts too. Maybe he’s actually the smart brother sneaked onboard that flight to SJU on purpose?
**Forgot to add “and” between “brother” & “sneaked”**