American Airlines Registers 101-Year-Old Passenger as Baby: “They Thought I Was A Child

A 101-year-old woman found herself mistaken for a baby due to an error in American Airlines’ booking system. Ms. Patricia, born in 1922, had her birth year incorrectly registered as 2022 in the airline’s system, leading to a comical mix-up during a recent flight between Chicago and Marquette, Michigan.

The glitch caused inconvenience for Ms. Patricia, with airport staff expecting a baby to be carried and not having transport ready for her inside the terminal. The error occurred when Ms. Patricia’s daughter made a reservation online for her ticket, and a glitch in the airport’s computer system misrecorded her birth year as 2022 instead of 1922.

This resulted in Ms. Patricia being mistaken for a child during check-in, similar to a previous incident from last year. Despite booking an adult ticket, the airport’s computer defaulted to a birth year 100 years later due to its inability to process such old dates.

Ms. Patricia and the cabin crew shared a laugh over the misunderstanding, but she expressed hope that the airline would resolve the issue soon. She was traveling with her daughter, Kris, and expressed a desire for smoother journeys in the future, citing experiences where her daughter had to carry all their luggage almost a mile from one gate to the other.

Ms. Patricia had encountered a previous incident where she had to wait inside the plane after everyone else had left because the flight crew was unaware that she needed a wheelchair. A retired nurse, Ms. Patricia flies every year to visit family and avoid harsh winters.

She emphasized the need for the airline to address the computer glitch, as it had caused her and her daughter significant inconvenience.