ATLANTA — An Atlanta man is raising security concerns after he said he flew to San Antonio and the airline had no record of him being on the flight.
The passenger, who asked not to be identified, told Channel 2's Justin Wilfon he became suspicious that something was wrong when he went to check in online for his flight home and the system wouldn't let him. That's when he called Delta.
The airline told the man that he was a no-show on his flight to San Antonio, so they canceled his return flight. Delta eventually rebooked the man.
The airline confirmed to Wilfon that the man’s story is correct.
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“It’s very bizarre," he said. “What they told me is that (they) had no record of me flying to Texas. That I actually was not on the passenger manifest, the flight list.”
A representative told him the airline canceled his trip because the airline believed he was a no-show for his flight to Texas.
“I was obviously very surprised. Obviously, in the world we live in today, that you could take a flight halfway across the country and (they do) not know about it or not have a record of it," he said.
In a statement, Delta told Wilfon, “Once Delta became aware of the issue that resulted in the cancellation of this customer’s original return ticket, we worked immediately to reissue the ticket to ensure he was able to travel as scheduled.”
Wilfon also spoke with Delta by phone. The airline believes the problem possibly occurred when the man’s boarding pass wasn’t properly read at the gate, but they’re still looking into it.
The passenger believes it raises security concerns.
“It’s very important for the airlines to know who is getting on and off our planes," he said.
The airline pointed out the man did clear a Transportation Security Administration screening before boarding the flight.
However, the man believes the airline needs to look at its own security, too.
“Man, how did this happen? How could this happen? How do we make sure it doesn’t happen again?" he asked.
Since our report aired on Wednesday night, we've heard from more Delta passengers who said they took flights without the airline knowing it.
“It reminded me of what occurred to me over the summer," said Adam Young. “I was kind of surprised that they didn’t have a record of me on the flight, right? They’re supposed to.”
We also heard from another Delta customer who said the same thing happened to him just this week!
In all, we've now heard from four Delta passengers, all from metro Atlanta, who said they flew on Delta only later to find out they weren't on the flight manifest.
“You’ve had other people call you. So you wonder how many people who didn’t see the story that it’s actually occurred with," Young said.
For the second day in a row, we reached out to Delta. The airline told Wilfon in a statement, “Delta will review the additional claims of boarding inconsistencies, and we apologize for any inconvenience these rare occurrences have had on our customers’ travel."
In Young’s case, he believes the Atlanta gate agent didn’t properly scan his boarding pass – leaving him listed as a no-show.
“She just said, 'Go on ahead,' because it hadn’t beeped or something, and I don’t normally see that.”
Delta told Wilfon their customers’ security is their top priority, but now, at least four of those customers are calling that into question.
“I think it’s a security issue," Young said.
We also reached out to the U.S. Department of Transportation to see if Delta committed any kind of violation with this.
So far, we’ve not heard back.
Cox Media Group
