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WTF?! For all the advancements made over the years, there are still scenarios that some computers struggle with. It appears that one of them is American Airlines’ system’s inability to compute how someone is over 100 years old. That’s a problem for a 101-year-old passenger who is repeatedly being mistaken for a baby.
The lady in question, named only as Patricia, was born in 1922, something that appears to confuse American Airlines’ system. Apparently unable to recognize this year, it continuously defaults her date of birth to 2022.
Being mistaken for an infant has caused issues in the past. Patricia, who still travels with her daughter, told the BBC of an incident in which airport staff did not have transport ready for her as they were expecting a baby who could be carried.
“It was funny that they thought I was only a little child and I’m an old lady,” said the former nurse.
Airline keeps mistaking 101-year-old woman for baby https://t.co/83zwnBa7Gy
– BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 28, 2024
The latest incident took place on a flight between Chicago and Marquette, Michigan; BBC cyber correspondent Joe Tidy was on the same flight. “The same thing happened last year and they were also expecting a child and not me,” Patricia told Tidy. This was despite her being booked under an adult’s ticket rather than a child’s.
Patricia said she flew every year to visit her family and avoid the cold winters. She had been traveling on her own until the age of 97, at which point she needed help from family members due to her eyesight. All went smoothly until Patricia turned 100.
The mix-up has caused some big problems. Patricia and her daughter were once left waiting inside a plane after all the other passengers had left as the airport staff had not arranged a wheelchair for her.
“I would like them to fix the computer as my poor daughter had to carry all our luggage and apparel almost a mile from one gate to the other,” she said.
Patricia says she will be flying again this fall at the age of 102, by which time she hopes American Airlines will have fixed the bug in its systems.
Another airline’s system error that mistook adults for kids almost had dire consequences in 2021. A flight from the UK to Spain took off more than a tonne heavier than expected because female passengers using the title “Miss” had been mistakenly identified as children. The error saw 38 passengers on the flight allocated a child’s “standard weight” of 35kg (77 pounds) instead of the adult figure of 69kg (152 pounds).
Image credit: Eric E Johnson