Airport mix-up lands senior in Puerto Rico

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- An 83-year-old woman from Tampa, Fla., found herself in Puerto Rico after confusion at an airport led her to board the wrong flight, her daughter says.

Vera Kuemmel said her mother, Elfriede, had been flying from Tampa to New York this week, when her flight changed over in Philadelphia using the same gate as a flight headed to Puerto Rico, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times said Tuesday.

That was when the senior Kuemmel accidentally boarded the wrong flight, leading her daughter to wonder how such a travel mistake could be allowed to occur.

"As much as they make you go through, I just don't understand it," Kuemmel told the Times of her mother's travel misadventures on Monday. "Not that she needed to be hand-held, but you'd think someone would take her under their wing. It's just unbelievable."

A spokeswoman for US Airways confirmed the travel mistake had taken place and said airline officials were investigating why gate workers didn't notice that the woman's boarding pass didn't match the Puerto Rican flight.