In a cautionary travel tale, four American senior citizens found themselves forcibly removed from a first class flight due to an unusual ticketing issue.
Despite your best-laid plans, getting away is never as straightforward as we might like, especially when it comes to flying — from a man urinating all over business class to a disgusting sock-stuffed seat, from a woman being publicly weighed in the airport to a hostess being beaten with an in-flight phone — but one thing you’d probably never think to worry about is your ticket itself. Unfortunately, one group of travelling OAPs found out just how dangerous an assumption that can be…
It all began when Wendi Meehan booked a trip to Europe for her husband and in-laws, with their first stop being the beautiful city of Amsterdam. The tickets were purchased through a website called Wholesale Flights, while Lufthansa was the issuing airline. Everything seemed to be in order, and Meehan’s in-laws even flexed their premier status on United, resulting in a welcome but ill-fated upgrade to first class for the Tampa to Chicago leg of the journey…
WATCH: Not even First Class is immune from the ups and downs of economy…
However, the group noticed that their boarding passes stated that a “paper ticket” was required for them to fly. Nevertheless, airport staff assured them there was no cause for concern and instructed them to proceed. They boarded the flight without issue but, just before departure, a ground staff member entered the aircraft and demanded that all four individuals disembark. At this point, it was explained to them that their tickets were mysteriously invalid, as reported by Live And Let’s Fly.
What exactly happened here, then? Well, when approached for comment by American broadcaster WFTS, United gave a surprisingly fulsome response…
“[The group] used a travel agency that was restricted from selling United tickets… The agency received several ‘unauthorized sell’ messages to alert them of the issue on the itinerary… It’s understood that the gate agent allowed the Winger family to board before syncing their ticket in an effort to keep from delaying the flight. However, immediately after the agent attempted to clear the ticket, they found the issues with the reservation, which is why the customers needed to be taken off the plane.”
United Airlines Spokesperson
Quite understandably, the family immediately reached out to Wholesale Flights and after explaining their situation had been able to secure new tickets for the following day without encountering any issues. When questioned on this point, United said that they didn’t “have any further information to share.” It’s a strange situation, and despite the best efforts of the team at Live And Let’s Fly, the real cause of this incident remains unclear. However, there is a leading theory…
Wholesale Flights appears to purchase frequent flyer miles and credit card points at a low cost before using them to book tickets. These tickets are then offered to customers at discount rates. However, it is unclear if this was the case here. Websites like these often have a travel agency arm that can also book tickets, occasionally employing tricks like ‘hidden city ticketing’ — aka the infamous “skiplagging” — ‘end-on-end ticketing’ to secure lower fares. In some instances, they even utilize specially-negotiated corporate discounts despite travellers having no affiliation with the respective company.
In this particular situation, it’s clear that the reservation and the underlying ticket were out of sync, causing a technical mismatch along with a great deal of embarrassment and inconvenience for the group, but the precise cause of the discrepancy remains unknown.
All in all, this cautionary tale should serve as a confirmation of the age-old truism that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Nevertheless, it’s an unfortunate way for a group of friends to discover that no matter how fancy your cabin, no one is totally immune to the turbulent nature of travel.