This is a case which when you hear about it, it could either make you laugh or make you cry. In the leading role of this story, is a 16 year old boy from Crete. He left Heraklion to fly to Athens….. but ended up landing in Budapest, according to a report via Radio 89.4.
The incident has caused comment and discussion, with most people finding it very hard to believe that it could actually happen.
A relative-witness, who happened to be travelling on the same charter flight, as the 16 year old, explained that the plane left Heraklion at 09.00 yesterday morning from the Nikos Kazantzakis airport, with destination Budapest….except that (unbeknown to them), the boy was supposed to have been travelling to Athens.
On the same flight, was a group of High School students who were on a 5 day school trip to Budapest. The 16 year old checked his ticket, went through the process of the security and boarding card checks, but then, without anyone noticing the mistake, got onto the bus which would take him to the plane which was headed for Budapest, as both flights were boarding simultaneously. The boy obviously didn’t notice his mistake and no one else came forward to double check or help him, which resulted in him getting on to the wrong plane.
During the flight, the crew began asking for the person with that name to come forward, but to no avail, as the boy was wearing headphones and couldn’t hear the announcements. Cabin crew were forced to begin the process of asking for identification from the passengers and in this way, they finally came across the boy.
On arrival at Budapest, he was put on another flight with the same company, for Athens, after he had been through a process of double checks by all the staff.
The Civil Aviation Authority is examining the case thoroughly, as it has highlighted a serious security issue on the ground and in general with regard to controls, as the 16 year old managed to get on board a plane without anyone stopping him or questioning him.