I got checked in as the wrong person!

[Mattg]

Just a random story about something that happened the other day... and a first for me...

I was flying from ADL-SYD and went to the staffed check-in counter to check in for my flight. I just showed my driver's licence, the staff member printed me a boarding pass and I was on my way. (I didn't have any bags to check in and didn't bother looking at the boarding pass immediately.)

After clearing security, I noticed that the seat on my boarding pass was not the one I'd selected. Thinking that was a bit odd, I then studied the boarding pass in more detail. The name on the boarding pass also wasn't my name - although it was extremely close (same last name and very similar first name). I then noticed that the PNR also wasn't mine!

They were able to fix this up for me at the lounge and I got checked in there under the correct name & booking. It turns out that this person with a very similar name was also on my flight. Hopefully he didn't have any issues trying to check in...

 

[RooFlyer]

Time for similar stories?

Not my experience, but one I observed from close quarters (in J seat). Flight from Dubai to Ashgabat on FlyDubai (so, international). Most pax were on board. Lady comes up the front from the back and wants to get off. Discussion ensued with FAs, but language difficulties. Bit of argy-bargy but lady goes back to her seat.

Anyway, what had happened is that lady on the plane had the passport of her friend, who was still in the terminal. Lady on board had been allowed to go through gate security with that wrong passport. Her friend, in the terminal with also a wrong passport, was denied boarding.

 

[henrus]

I've boarded as the wrong person on a flight.

I'd just come off a Virgin flight from Rarotonga sitting in 3A and then had about 3-4 hours overnight (2am-6am worst layover ever) in Auckland airport before connecting through to Brisbane. Upon boarding AKL-BNE, the scanner was broken so they were manually typing seat numbers and I was so tired so just found the first boarding pass in my pocket which happened to be the RAR-AKL pass from the previous night. Even upon getting on the plane, they didn't pick up that error and it was only when they said my seat was 3A that I picked it up because I was sure I'd been upgraded to 2C for the flight. The crew was quite funny about it saying the ground staff would pick it up and sure enough someone came on a few minutes later when the real 3A tried to board.

Reminded me a bit of the Air France or United incidents and I can see how they could quite easily happen:

Air France Passenger Gets on Wrong Flight and Ends Up in a Different Country

The Copenhagen-bound woman ended up in Greece.

www.cntraveler.com

 

[drron]

Ours was on an Air Asia Thailand flight.Just as well we checked our BPs before boarding.We were both given the same seat.Not used them since.

 

[Daver6]

That sounds like quite a significant privacy and security failure to me.

 

[Sprucegoose]

But if you were upgraded............

 

[CaptJCool]

Reminds me of the F U back In The days of QF81 international leg Syd - ADL.

CHECKED in the international desk in Sydney, luggage bag tagged, got that beautiful Orange domestic sticker, off through Customs and Immigration and over to the QF FIRST lounge my lips whet with the anticipation of Taittinger!

sorry sir you’re in the wrong terminal. Should be over at domestic hopping on QF708.. WTF
and you’re definitely not getting past me into the world of luxury, and FIRST trappings....

COULDNT possibly be our mistake. Well, while I dug around to find the paper copies of the original booking cause it was clearly in their opinion my fault..... the booking showed I was right and they were wrong. But that can’t be right. Turns out the bloke who checked me in was relief from domestic and somehow stuffed it....

turns out my luggage went domestic while I went international. So I had extra champagne to really give it up to them.

 

[flydoc]

went to the staffed check-in counter to check in for my flight

am intrigued as to why not OLCI?

 

[Mattg]

am intrigued as to why not OLCI?

No particular reason... just had a busy trip and hadn't got around to checking in before I arrived at the airport, so it was easy enough to go to the priority check-in counter and get a boarding pass there. There was no queue.

 

[AIRwin]

No particular reason...

I thought I knew but I was wrong...