- Spirit Airlines reportedly fired an employee who escorted a lone 6-year-old onto the wrong flight.
- The child was put onto a plane heading to Orlando rather than the intended destination, Fort Myers.
Spirit Airlines has reportedly terminated an employee who put an unaccompanied 6-year-old on the wrong flight.
The airline accidentally put the child on a plane traveling to Orlando instead of Fort Myers, flying him more than 160 miles away from his family four days before Christmas.
After an investigation, Spirit determined a gate agent in Philadelphia had escorted the child to the incorrect aircraft, ABC News reported.
"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," Spirit said in a statement provided to ABC News. "We are also reiterating our procedures to the team, and we are in communication with the child's family about this matter."
Representatives for Spirit Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.
The boy's grandmother, Maria Ramos, told Wink News last week she was informed that her grandson, Casper, had missed the flight after he failed to arrive at Fort Myers, Florida. Ramos said it was her grandson's first time on a plane and the scariest thing she had experienced.
After she received a call from Casper telling her he was in Orlando she drove across Florida to collect him, per CNN.
In a statement provided to BI at the time, a representative for Spirit Airlines confirmed that the child was incorrectly boarded on a flight to Orlando and apologized for the error. The airline said Casper was "always under the care and supervision of a Spirit Team Member."
Ramos said Spirit reimbursed her for traveling to collect her grandson, per ABC News.