Woman flies to Hong Kong on wrong ticket

The woman travelled with Cathay Pacific when she should have been on Hong Kong Airlines. Photo / Supplied

A woman managed to fly from Taiwan to Hong Kong with an incorrect ticket on the wrong airline.

The incident happened in early February, when a Taiwan resident known only as Ms Hong, 34, arrived at Taoyuan Airport to travel to Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported.

Her boyfriend had booked a round-trip ticket for her on Hong Kong Airlines, but at the airport, Ms Hong went to the Cathay Pacific kiosk by accident.

However, an employee of the airline issued her a boarding pass that was meant for a male passenger with the same surname.

Ms Hong then boarded the plane, with no problems from immigration authorities or ground crew.

The error was revealed when Hong Kong Airlines contacted her boyfriend to say she had not made the flight - and by this point, Ms Hong had arrived in Hong Kong.

"[The name on the air ticket] wasn't me. Even the sex [on the air ticket] was not right. This is ridiculous," she told the Apple Daily in Taiwan.

While Ms Hong said Cathay Pacific were initially unhelpful when she approached them for assistance, the airline later worked with Hong Kong Airlines to arrange her return flight to Taiwan. She was also offered use of its VIP lounge.

Cathay Pacific confirmed the incident on Friday and said there had been an error in the check-in procedures.

"We take this matter seriously and are in the process of securing more information from the relevant teams and reviewing the check-in procedures on that day to ensure that similar incidents will not happen again."

- nzherald.co.nz