British Airways Sued For Flying Passenger To Grenada Instead of Granada

An American dentist had a major change in his travel plans when he flew to the Caribbean island of Grenada instead of the Spanish city Granada.

During a recent vacation to Europe, Edward Gamson made plans to visit the city of Granada in southern Spain, but he says an error made by the booking agent resulted in him and his partner ending up on a nine-hour flight to Grenada in the Caribbean, reports the Independent.

“I have a lifelong interest in Islamic art. I’m also of Spanish Jewish heritage, so it was something I had always wanted to do to visit Granada and the Alhambra,” Gamson told the Independent. “I made it absolutely clear to the booking agent I wanted to go to Granada in Spain. Why on earth would I want to go to Grenada in the Caribbean if I was flying back to America from Lisbon?”

The error was allegedly made by British Airways booking agents in Florida. Gamson says his electronic tickets only showed “Grenada,” and the airport code, destination country and flight time were all absent from the ticket.

Gamson says the pair first knew something was wrong when they looked at the electronic map on the in-flight entertainment system. They saw their plane was heading west out of London, the wrong direction to be traveling to reach their planned destination. British Airways staff apologized to the couple and said they would be be put on the plane's return trip to London's Gatwick Airport. From there, they could continue their intended trip to Granada.

However, after an additional three days attempting to sort the matter out, the couple never made it to Granada.

When he contacted British Airways about the mix-up, Gamson says the airline wouldn’t reimburse him for the $4,500 first class tickets. He then filed a suit against the air carrier for $34,000 in damages. He added that he is upset British Airlines “won’t do the decent thing.”