US airline JetBlue is being sued after two young boys, who were travelling unaccompanied, has been mixed up. They were sent hundreds of miles in wrong destinations leading to the great torment of their families.
Both unaccompanied five-year-old boys had boarded at Cibao International Airport in the Dominican Republic.
Cibao International Airport is a popular gateway to the Caribbean-Spanish charm of the Dominican Republic.
Usually, the best choice is often with low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways, who operate up to seven daily flights from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport as well as daily flights from Newark and Boston.
However, the supposed to be unforgettable getaway for Maribel Martinez and her family in the Caribbean turned out to be one of their haunting nightmares.
According to the Telegraph, the New York mother had returned early from a holiday to the Dominican Republic, leaving her five-year old son Andy with family in the Caribbean.
She had paid JetBlue $100 for a member of staff to escort Andy on to the plane, but was frantic to discover that Andy was nowhere to be found.
Maribel Martinez said she was shocked when JetBlue staffers presented her with an unknown five-year-old on August 17 at John F Kennedy Airport.
Martinez has since filed a lawsuit against JetBlue for unspecified damages, but accordingly it is for the "great emotional distress, extreme fear, horror, mental shock, mental anguish and psychological trauma".
"Any parent can understand the terrifying fear a mother goes through knowing that her child is missing," the family's lawyer Sanford Rubenstein said.
Meanwhile in Boston, Andy was told he would be reunited with his mother, only to be escorted to a woman he had never seen before.
Ms Martinez said her son was wearing a wristband with his name on it, but the other child was carrying Andy's passport.
It took airline staff three hours to locate the child, who had accidentally been flown to Boston.
"Upon learning of the error, our teams in JFK and Boston immediately took steps to assist the children in reaching their correct destinations," the airline said in a statement at the time.
Consequently, JetBlue put Andy on a flight to New York that same day, and refunded Martinez $475 for Andy's return ticket and also gave the family $2,100 in credit.
