A 5-year-old returning home alone from a family visit in the Dominican Republic was placed on the wrong flight — and ended up 214 miles away in Boston while his
panic-stricken mom waited at Kennedy Airport.
Maribel Martinez said she lost her mind while it took more than three hours to locate her son, Andy Martinez Mercado.
“I thought he was kidnapped,” Martinez, 38, told the Daily News. “I thought I would never see him again.”
Clueless JetBlue staffers, meanwhile, had presented a different 5-year-old boy to Martinez they thought was her son.
“No, this is not my child,” the shocked mom recalled telling JetBlue employees.
It turns out that little boy — who was carrying Andy’s passport at the time — was supposed to be on the flight to Boston, and he was mistakenly placed on the plane to New York City.
Martinez has now retained high-powered lawyer Sanford Rubenstein to take legal action against JetBlue for their negligence, which caused her family so much emotional distress this summer.
JetBlue refunded her $475 for the flight and also gave the family $2,100 in credit for future flights.
They shouldn’t have bothered because Martinez says they will never use JetBlue again.
After the airport nightmare, Andy went to the D.R. with his father, Rafael, and they flew with Delta Airlines. They plan to return before he starts kindergarten next week.
The JetBlue spokeswoman said the incident is being reviewed “with our leadership and Santiago airport team” to prevent it happening again.
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