This guy thought he got a great deal on a flight halfway around the world. But he didn’t quite make it that far . . .
62-year-old Kingsley Burnett lives in New York and recently booked his dream vacation to Australia. He was supposed to land in Sydney, and then hop on a cruise ship. But he didn’t even make it out of the U.S. So what happened?
It turned out he did book a flight to “Sidney” . . . but it was Sidney, MONTANA, a small town near the North Dakota border with 6,000 people.
He knew something was up when his American Airlines flight from New York landed in Billings, and he saw snow-capped mountains in the distance.
Shortly after that, he found out the next plane he was supposed to get on was a puddle-jumper that definitely couldn’t make it across the Pacific. It was only supposed to take him another 250 miles to a small airport in Sidney, Montana.
A ticketing agent tried to help and says Kingsley had a great sense of humor about it. But by then, there was no way to make it to Australia in time for his cruise. So he stayed overnight in Billings, and flew right back to New York.
He says the whole thing happened because he was trying to book the cheapest flight possible, and the airport codes are similar. Sydney, Australia is S-Y-D . . . and Sidney, Montana is S-D-Y.
He still probably should have realized. But the manager at his hotel has worked there for 20 years, and remembers at least one other guest who made the same mistake.
The good news is Kingsley isn’t throwing in the towel. He re-booked his trip to Australia for this June.
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