16-year-old traveling alone on Frontier "mistakenly boarded" wrong flight to Puerto Rico

A 16-year-old boy "mistakenly boarded" a Frontier Airlines flight in Tampa on Dec. 22, expecting to land in Cleveland, the airline said in a statement Saturday. Instead, he ended up in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The flights were boarding one after the other at the same gate, and the passenger boarded the San Juan-bound flight, which was departing first, Jennifer F. de la Cruz, a spokesperson from the airline told CBS News.

The passenger was "immediately flown back to Tampa on the same aircraft and accommodated on a flight to Cleveland the following day," said the airline, who says it has "extended its sincere apologies to the family for the error."

De la Cruz noted that Frontier allows children ages 15 or older to fly alone, but does not offer a formal unaccompanied minor program involving escorts from the airline.

Last week, Spirit Airlines came under fire when they "incorrectly boarded" an unaccompanied 6-year-old boy who was traveling from Philadelphia to Fort Meyers, Florida. He ended up on the wrong flight and landed in Orlando, about 160 miles away from his intended destination. The gate employee responsible has since been terminated by Spirit. 

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C Mandler

C Mandler is a social media producer and trending topics writer for CBS News, focusing on American politics and LGBTQ+ issues.