Spirit Airlines put a 6-year-old on the wrong flight and flew him 160 miles away from his family

• A 6-year-old boy traveling alone was put on the wrong Spirit Airlines flight.
• He landed at Orlando instead of his intended destination of Fort Myers, Florida.

Spirit Airlines apologized after it accidentally put an unaccompanied six-year-old on the wrong flight and flew him more than 160 miles away from his family.

The boy's grandmother, Maria Ramos, told Wink News that she was informed her grandson Casper had missed his flight from Philadelphia to Fort Myers, Florida, on Thursday.

"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," she said.

Ramos said she ran onto the plane, and the flight attendant told her no unaccompanied children were on the flight.

Ramos said it was Casper's first time on a plane and the scariest thing she had experienced.

The boy later called her to tell her he was in Orlando, 160 miles from his intended destination. His baggage arrived in Fort Myers as planned.

Ramos said that she wanted answers from the airline about how the mix-up happened, as the boy had been handed over to a flight attendant by his mother.

"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?" she said.

"Did she let him go by himself, and he jumped in the wrong plane by himself?"

Ramos said that the airline had offered to reimburse her for the drive to pick him up.

In a statement to BI, a representative for Spirit Airlines confirmed that the child was incorrectly boarded on a flight to Orlando.

"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," they said.

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