Spirit gate agent no longer working for airline after escorting child to wrong flight

By Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — Spirit Airlines says the person who escorted a child onto the wrong flight last week is no longer working for the company. The 6-year-old was supposed to fly from Philadelphia to visit his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida, but ended up on a flight to Orlando instead.

“To better understand what occurred, we immediately launched a thorough internal investigation and discovered that a gate agent in Philadelphia (PHL) escorted the child to the incorrect aircraft,” Spirit Airlines said in a statement. “This agent is no longer working with Spirit, and any individual whose actions resulted in the incorrect boarding will be held accountable for failing to follow our procedures.”

The airline previously apologized for the error. In its latest statement, Spirit added, “We are also reiterating our procedures to the team, and we are in communication with the child’s family about this matter.”

Spirit said the child was under the supervision of a Spirit employee the whole time.

Panic set in for Maria Ramos, who was identified as the child’s grandmother, after the plane her grandson was initially supposed to be on landed and he wasn’t on it, she told CNN affiliate WINK-TV.

She said she had to drive nearly 160 miles from Fort Myers to Orlando on December 21 to pick up the boy.

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CNN’s Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.