5 ms·

I know a guy who ended up in San Jose, Costa Rica instead of California.

lostlogin 3y ago
I was told of an Auckland/Oakland clusterfuck. Think that was on buying a ticket and somehow hot noticing the vast price difference.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Sometimes you do everything right and the pilot screws up. https://www.thelocal.de/20190325/british-airways-flight-ends-up-in-edinburgh-instead-of-dsseldorf https://www.thelocal.de/20190325/british-airways-flight-ends...
  - mr_mitm 3y ago
    The article says the pilot was handed the wrong paperwork, so somebody else screwed up.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      The pilot is like the captain on the boat, it may be someone else’s fault but it’s his responsibility. (I think this is why many pilots say on the intercoms before pushback as to where the plane is going, if they say Birmingham and the entire plane bursts into screaming and crying, then they know … they got it right ;) ).
      - lostlogin 3y ago
        This would be a neat variant of the scream test.
  - t0mas88 3y ago
    That's a dispatch screw-up before departure, not a pilot. That plane will have been on a valid flight plan but to the wrong place, there is no way for the flight crew to go to a completely different place than the flight plan. Because the air traffic control computers also have the flight plan. So their instructions are going towards the filed destination. Any discrepancy would be noticed on both sides very quickly because you get instructions that don't fit the plan. The one thing the crew can screw up during the flight is landing at an airport right next to the destination when on a visual approach. By visually confusing the two airports. There are procedures to avoid it, but it still happens.
    - jsjohnst 3y ago
      > By visually confusing the two airports. There are procedures to avoid it, but it still happens. Like the 747 that landed at Jabara airport, a tiny corporate/general aviation airport.
      - t0mas88 3y ago
        Yes and some airport/approaches have a high enough risk that there is a warning. Düsseldorf for example has a box with something like "Don't confuse Essen airport X miles north-east when approaching runway 23" drawn on their approach as a caution. Because you're flying right over the top of that other airport, with the same runway direction.
- cozzyd 3y ago
  Don't worry, Oakland is renaming its airport to avoid confusion.
  - wbl 3y ago
    It's just as far from SF as SFO.
- AnotherGoodName 3y ago
  San Jose is the really confusing one imho. San Jose international in Cabo (SJD) just south of the California border and San Jose international (SJC) in California are spitting distance globally speaking so if flying from a third country you really need to make sure you got the right one as ticket prices alone wont give it away.
skissane 3y ago
> I know a guy who ended up in San Jose, Costa Rica instead of California. Every few years there is a story about tourists who turn up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, thinking they were going on vacation to Sydney, Australia. They didn’t board the wrong flight, they booked the wrong ticket
- TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
  It’s the civil aviation equivalent of “WONTFIX; working as intended”. :D But it must be a wild surprise.
- ghaff 3y ago
  A friend of mine runs a small tech conference every year in Portland, Maine. (You probably know where this is going.) One of the early years of the conference someone booked a ticket to Portland, Oregon which is probably the more expected locale for a tech conference. Forget if they actually flew there or if they just had to change the ticket.
spuz 3y ago
How about Costa Rica instead of Costa Del Sol? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhM_dDlhwSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhM_dDlhwSU
red-iron-pine 3y ago
stayed in a hostel with a Dutch guy, big stoner, who ended up in Melbourne, Florida, instead of Australia par for the course with that guy, amazed he could tie his shoes most days.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

I was told of an Auckland/Oakland clusterfuck. Think that was on buying a ticket and somehow hot noticing the vast price difference.

bombcar 3y ago
Sometimes you do everything right and the pilot screws up. https://www.thelocal.de/20190325/british-airways-flight-ends-up-in-edinburgh-instead-of-dsseldorf https://www.thelocal.de/20190325/british-airways-flight-ends...
- mr_mitm 3y ago
  The article says the pilot was handed the wrong paperwork, so somebody else screwed up.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    The pilot is like the captain on the boat, it may be someone else’s fault but it’s his responsibility. (I think this is why many pilots say on the intercoms before pushback as to where the plane is going, if they say Birmingham and the entire plane bursts into screaming and crying, then they know … they got it right ;) ).
    - lostlogin 3y ago
      This would be a neat variant of the scream test.
- t0mas88 3y ago
  That's a dispatch screw-up before departure, not a pilot. That plane will have been on a valid flight plan but to the wrong place, there is no way for the flight crew to go to a completely different place than the flight plan. Because the air traffic control computers also have the flight plan. So their instructions are going towards the filed destination. Any discrepancy would be noticed on both sides very quickly because you get instructions that don't fit the plan. The one thing the crew can screw up during the flight is landing at an airport right next to the destination when on a visual approach. By visually confusing the two airports. There are procedures to avoid it, but it still happens.
  - jsjohnst 3y ago
    > By visually confusing the two airports. There are procedures to avoid it, but it still happens. Like the 747 that landed at Jabara airport, a tiny corporate/general aviation airport.
    - t0mas88 3y ago
      Yes and some airport/approaches have a high enough risk that there is a warning. Düsseldorf for example has a box with something like "Don't confuse Essen airport X miles north-east when approaching runway 23" drawn on their approach as a caution. Because you're flying right over the top of that other airport, with the same runway direction.
cozzyd 3y ago
Don't worry, Oakland is renaming its airport to avoid confusion.
- wbl 3y ago
  It's just as far from SF as SFO.
AnotherGoodName 3y ago
San Jose is the really confusing one imho. San Jose international in Cabo (SJD) just south of the California border and San Jose international (SJC) in California are spitting distance globally speaking so if flying from a third country you really need to make sure you got the right one as ticket prices alone wont give it away.

skissane 3y ago

> I know a guy who ended up in San Jose, Costa Rica instead of California. Every few years there is a story about tourists who turn up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, thinking they were going on vacation to Sydney, Australia. They didn’t board the wrong flight, they booked the wrong ticket

TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
It’s the civil aviation equivalent of “WONTFIX; working as intended”. :D But it must be a wild surprise.
ghaff 3y ago
A friend of mine runs a small tech conference every year in Portland, Maine. (You probably know where this is going.) One of the early years of the conference someone booked a ticket to Portland, Oregon which is probably the more expected locale for a tech conference. Forget if they actually flew there or if they just had to change the ticket.

spuz 3y ago

How about Costa Rica instead of Costa Del Sol? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhM_dDlhwSU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhM_dDlhwSU

red-iron-pine 3y ago

stayed in a hostel with a Dutch guy, big stoner, who ended up in Melbourne, Florida, instead of Australia par for the course with that guy, amazed he could tie his shoes most days.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]