A furious grandmother is demanding how the child ended up in another part of the state after a boarding mistake on a plane (Picture: WINK)
It is the one of the most beloved of Christmas films about a child left stranded without his family.
But the Macaulay Culkin hit Home Alone very nearly became a reality after a young child was packed off on the wrong flight all by himself.
NBC News reported that the six-year-old was a first-time flyer and had been going to see his grandmother in Florida.
The child was due to fly from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Thursday.
However he was put on the wrong Spirit Airlines flight and ended up in Orlando 160 miles away from his destination, according to the American news outlet.
In a statement, the airline said: ‘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.
A Spirit airlines Airbus 320 seen at gate in Cancun Internationnal Airport (CUN) in Cancun, Mexico, on November 2, 2021 (Picture: AFP)
‘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.’
According to WINK TV, a Fort Myers-based TV station, the boy’s frantic grandmother panicked when she told him that there had been children on the arriving flight.
Maria Ramos said: ‘I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, “Where’s my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?” She said, “No, I had no kids with me.”
The youngster ended up 160 miles away from where he was expected to arrive but luckily phoned his worried grandmother (Picture: WINK)
Luckily, the quick-thinking child realised what had happened and then phoned his grandmother.
She has since demanded a better explanation of what happened to lead to the mistake.
‘I want them to call me [and] let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando,’ Ramos said.
‘How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? The flight attendant — after mom handed him with paperwork — did she let him go by himself? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?’
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In a statement the airline said: ‘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.’