Six-year-old has real-life Home Alone experience after getting wrong flight

A six-year-old boy lived out every child's Home Alone dream just before Christmas, after he ended up on his own on the wrong flight.

The little lad, named Casper, was travelling from Philadelphia to Florida to see his grandmother – but things didn't quite go to plan.

Instead of flying to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, he was put on a flight to Orlando, four hours away from his destination.

His grandmother, Maria Ramos, was waiting at the arrivals gate for young Caspar, but he didn't appear.

She told WINK: “They told me, ‘No, he’s not on this flight. He missed his flight.’ I said, ‘No, he could not miss his flight because I have the check-in tag.’

“I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, ‘Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?’

“She said, ‘No, I had no kids with me'.”

Caspar's experience was not so different to that of bratty eight-year-old Kevin in Home Alone,, who is mistakenly left at home when his family go on holiday to Paris.

In the film, he wakes up to an empty house, and thinks his dreams of having no family have come true. Then all hell breaks loose.

Understandably, in real-life, Ramos was sent into a panic until Caspar called to let her know he was safe and sound – just in the wrong place.

His bag even made it to the right destination, she said.

Carrier Spirit Airlines offered to refund the cost of her four-hour drive to go and get him (though not the flight itself).

She said: “I want them to call me. Let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando. How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane?"

The flight attendant – after mom handed him with paperwork – did she let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?”

Spirit Airlines said it was investigating the incident. It also said Caspar was supervised throughout the journey.

“On Dec. 21, an unaccompanied child traveling from Philadelphia (PHL) to Fort Myers (RSW) was incorrectly boarded on a flight to Orlando (MCO).

"The child was always under the care and supervision of a Spirit team member, and as soon as we discovered the error, we took immediate steps to communicate with the family and reconnect them.

"We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologise to the family for this experience.”

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.