Maribel Martinez says she was waiting at John F. Kennedy airport for her five-year-old son Andy to return from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic. He was flying as an unaccompanied minor, and Ms. Martinez had paid a $100 fee to put her child under the care of JetBlue’s staff. But the boy presented to Ms. Martinez was the wrong boy, even though he was holding Andy’s passport.
“I thought he was kidnapped,” Martinez told the New York Daily News. “I thought I would never see him again.”
And, as you might guess, a similar scene unfolded in Boston when Andy Martinez stepped off the plane and met a family he’d never seen before.
JetBlue issued statement:
Two unaccompanied children of the same age traveling separately from Santiago, Dominican Republic, one to New York JFK and one to Boston — each boarded a flight to the incorrect destination. Upon learning of the error, our teams in JFK and Boston immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations. While the children were always under the care and supervision of JetBlue crew members, we realize this situation was distressing for their families.
This would be a great Disney movie. Starring Dean Jones and Michelle Lee, with Haley Mills as Andy/Other, and Buddy Hackett as “The Escort.”