A BBC journalist has revealed how she unwittingly flew from Heathrow to Madrid under the wrong identity – and British Airways did not clock the mistake.
Catherine Snowdon said the airline insisted she had never boarded the plane to the Spanish capital on April 23, which created a ‘potential security risk’.
The issues first arose when Ms Snowdon tried to check-in online for the flight operated by BA’s Spanish partner carrier Iberia.
She said it did not work and an error code saying ‘assistance required’ also popped up when she tried to check-in again at the self service booth at Heathrow Airport.
Ms Snowdon next headed over to the check-in desk and she was finally given her boarding pass, which she admitted she ‘didn’t read in any great detail’.
After passing through the security area as normal, she was also ‘waved through’ by a member of the BA ground crew who ‘glanced’ at her passport and boarding pass.
The journalist, who was heading to Madrid for a business trip, said she was ‘surprised’ when she got on the plane and realised she was seated in business class.
However, she assumed this was ‘free upgrade’ and enjoyed the perks on the plane including a ‘tiramisu’ for dessert.
Catherine Snowdon said British Airways insisted she had never boarded the plane to the Spanish capital on April 23, which created a ‘potential security risk’
The issues first arose when Ms Snowdon tried to check-in online for the flight operated by BA’s Spanish partner carrier Iberia
‘It was on arrival in the Spanish capital when things started to go wrong,’ Ms Snowdon wrote in an article about her experience for the BBC.
‘As soon as I gained mobile signal on the ground, an email popped up: my return flight had been cancelled.
‘In response, the travel company said it had been cancelled because I was a no-show on the outbound flight.’
Ms Snowdon replied saying she was ‘very much in Madrid’ and waiting for her luggage to come through at the airport.
She said BA remained adamant she had not travelled and it was at this point she realised that the boarding pass was ‘not hers’.
Ms Snowdon was shocked to see that the name printed on her ticket and luggage tags was a man the BBC has referred to only as Huw H.
She said BA continued to insist that she could not have boarded the plane on Huw H’s ticket as their ‘security checks would not allow it’.
The journalist explained they were ‘so convinced’ she hadn’t travelled to Madrid, the BBC had to book her onto the return flight again, despite her already having a ticket.
The journalist explained they were ‘so convinced’ she hadn’t travelled to Madrid (pictured), the BBC had to book her onto the return flight again, despite her already having a ticket
Ms Snowdon raised concerns she had inadvertently become a ‘security issue’ as airport staff did not clock the discrepancy between her passport and boarding pass.
She was so baffled that a mistake like this slip through she tried to track down Huw H to work out how the confusion may have arisen.
The BBC employee found a Jonathan Huw H, who flew on a BA flight on April 24, a day after her, and landed at Heathrow.
Ms Snowdon, whose married name which is on her passport begins with an H, speculated that perhaps his details were somehow ‘floating around’ the BA system.
Simon Calder, travel correspondent at the Independent, said sometimes mistakes happen ‘in the high-pressure, deadline-strewn world of aviation’.
But he questioned why the error wasn’t clocked at the departure gate and for that reason Ms Snowdon’s experience was rare.
The Civil Aviation Authority is reportedly investigating the incident.
A spokesperson for BA said: ‘We’ve contacted our customer to apologise for this genuine human error.
‘While incidents like this are extremely rare, we’ve taken proactive steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.’
A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport said it is not responsible for the ground crew and there were no issues with how Ms Snowdon passed through security checks.
