Two Boys, Two Tickets, One Plane To South Bend

Lucas Rios was tired.

So when the 14-year old boy flying unaccompanied from Colorado Springs, CO, to South Bend, IN, found himself gateside at O'Hare International with nothing to do, he did what most sleepy 14-year olds will do.

He went to sleep and missed his flight.

But not to worry, that seat didn't go empty. A 10-year boy headed to Taipei, Taiwan by way of Tokyo, was steered into Lucas's seat for the trip to South Bend.

The United Express flight to South Bend was about halfway to its destination before the error was discovered. The chagrined crew was forced to explain to the other passengers on board what had happened as the aircraft turned around and headed back to O'Hare.

After the aircraft made it to the gate, the 10-year old Taiwanese boy was taken off the United Express flight and replaced by a rather droopy-eyed Lucas. The young foreigner was led to his gate without further incident.

And then the finger-pointing started.

This was an "extremely rare incident, completely unacceptable," United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski told the South Bend Tribune.

"Now I'll have to be watching them and make sure they remember to watch me," Lucas told the Tribune.

The pilot of that United Express flight personally escorted Lucas, faced with the daunting task of explaining the whole thing to Mom. Mom wasn't pleased.

"You didn't just misplace my luggage," Lucas's mother, Kim Reed told the pilot. "This falls way more in-depth than that. You didn't misplace my luggage; you misplaced my kid.

"Because you're paying for this service, you don't think something like this is going to happen," Reed told the South Bend paper. "I'm forced to put him on a plane because I want to see my son. Now, I don't have any peace of mind about it at all."

There's no word on whether Ms. Reed got her $75 back -- the money she pays to United Express to make sure her son arrives safely.

FMI: www.united.com