MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - Dozens of South Florida teens, who are part of a soccer team, were left stranded and forced to sleep at the airport after their trip home took an unexpected turn.
The teens found themselves far from home and far from comfortable at Washington Dulles International Airport. Team leaders blame the airline.
“They booked us on the wrong flight, stranded here with 50-something kids,” said coach Michael Ramsammy.
The Miramar United Elite Soccer Club traveled to Virginia Friday to showcase their talents as part of the Elite Clubs National League with the goal of catching the eye of college scouts.
That all went as planned, but the trip home was a different ball game. When they arrived at the airport Monday night.
“Then, they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, we don’t have you on this plane,'” said Stephan Lopez, attorney for Miramar United Elite.
Lopez said United Airlines told them they missed their flight, but documents from the travel agency and United Airlines shows 57 people were supposed to take that very flight at 10:08 p.m. on Monday, arriving in Fort Lauderdale at 12:59 a.m. on Tuesday.
“And they’re like, ‘Oh, yes, there’s some mistake.’ They couldn’t explain what the mistake was. We kept asking for a manager, so the majority of these kids had to stay at the airport from 10 last night to 1 p.m. today,” said Lopez.
A little airport soccer passed some of the time. Then, the tired teens looked for places to lay their heads for the rest of the 15-hour wait. They arrived back in South Florida Tuesday afternoon. Coaches were frustrated with how the airline handled the ordeal.
“I’m like, common sense that you’ve got 57 stranded young kids. Let’s take care of the kids and worry about the problems afterwards, and they was like no to even food vouchers, no to hotel, nothing,” said Ramsammy.
United Airlines responded in a statement: “The travel agency that booked tickets for this group made several changes to their flight itinerary. When they missed their ticketed flight, we worked with them to find new flights quickly.”
“At no point where we advised of any change at all, and it would’ve not worked anyways,” said Coach Thiago Olivera.
Lopez was frustrated that no one seemed to be taking responsibility for the mistake and plans to take legal action.
“None of these children, it’s not their fault. They contracted, they paid and they deserve to get the benefit of the contract that they entered into,” said Lopez.
7News reached out to the travel agency to find out if the flight changes were made on their end, and we are still waiting for a response.
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