Is it even possible to get on the wrong plane?

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The Airplane & PC Geek

Yes this issue is very common. If there are no computers, the gate agent will just glance over them, but sometimes miss read or forget the flight number or destination. Just a employee error on their part.
For example, a lady got on a flight to "Auckland" but her ticket was for "Oakland, CA"
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xelakann

Yes, here's how:

Portland Airport you are flying on Horizon Air to Bend, OR. Let's say you don't live in Oregon and that you live somewhere in the mid-west. You go to the boarding area where there are tons of little planes leaving from the same general gate area. Meaning you go through one big gate, then walk outside and see a row on planes all with the places they are going.

So there you are sitting in the boarding area and you here the agents call for boarding to North Bend. You think, oh North Bend that's probably my flight. At the same time there is a flight boarding for Seattle, Spokane, Boise and Redmond. You give them your ticket, they send out outside (they probably say which plane to take-- but you aren't paying attention)... you walk out side to a line up of small identical planes (when I say small I mean 30 seaters), you see the plane for North Bend you get on, the flight attendent says welcome to this flight to North Bend, still you have no problem... then when it's time you land you notice the ocean. you think... what Bend is in centeral Oregon, not on the coast, you ask the flight attendant, she says "no you should have been on the Redmond/ Bend flight" not the North Bend/Coos Bay flight. Uh oh!

I saw this often, I flew for Horizon for a brief time before switching to a larger airline. But this is exactly how it happens. I'm not sure about bigger airlines... it never happened to any one my flight then... but like I said before I'd see this all the time there. That was about 6 years ago, I'm sure they've cracked down on it by now.

gj050277

It does happen from time to time. Usually out of a hub city with a slacker agent working gates. It happens sometimes with foreigners that dont understand English too well.

Beth

Probably not. The employees at the gate would notice you aren't supposed to be on their flight and would likely direct you to the right plane.

sel_bos

Yes, it happened before.

dmc

Not unless the ticket printed for you was erroneous. As you board the plane, your ticket is scanned (via a barcode), so human error should not be a factor at that stage.

sanderz1995

No.

mike d

Two common ways I think this happens:

First, some gates don't scan your tickets so there is not a computer checking your flight. You just rely on the agent carefully reading the ticket and hoping he is alert. I would imagine even the most dedicated agent would occasionally simply glance at the ticket and not catch an error if there was one. When you read 1,000 tickets in 8 hours you probably would only glance at a few too.

Next problem is when you take regional flights that are parked on the runway. For example I was flying from Cleveland to Virginia last month and my gate was being used for 7 different flights within a 20 minute period. All seven planes were parked on the runway, you exit the tunnel and go outside and an agent points you towards your flight.

I was told my flight was "the one on my left", at this time there were still 3 planes right outside and two were on the left, I had to question the attendant on the plane when I entered to confirm I guesssed the correct "left". I could have easily walked on to either of the other two flights and no one would have caught it.

It is rare, but it does happen.

Adoptive Father

I have seen it happen, thankfully not to me. I was on a plane when the pilot comes on the PA and says something to the effect of "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have good weather today for our flight to Cleveland, we will be arriving on time etc.. etc."

A woman across the aisle suddenly looked like she had seen a ghost. She frantically started digging to find her ticket and pressed the flight attendant's button. Yep, she was on the wrong plane. I am not sure how this happened, doesn't someone check tickets? I'm not sure how it all ended, but the flight attendant made it sound like the airline would put her on a plane to her original destination.

Meg C

Yes, I saw this almost happen at the Charlotte Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.

They had several small jets going to destinations that were 10-45 mins away. An older gentleman was told by the agent to get onto the small plane third to the last.

Well there were several of us herding to different planes and he ended up following the person in front of him. As he was climbing the ramp to get onto the plane the agent at the gate had to scream over the jets for the man to stop because he was boarding the wrong plane.

This usually occurs in smaller airport terminals when you're boarding the express jets.

redgator40

well i'd like to think they check your ticket thoroughly before you board. of course there are some really stupid people out there.

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