The incredible odyssey of a pensioner: she misses her flight (and company) and instead of Berlin she ends up in... Bologna

This is one of those stories that seems unbelievable, were it not for the fact that they actually happened.

And that raise disturbing questions about security measures, seemingly impenetrable, adopted by airlines and airports.

It looks like, in some respects, to that of the woman (later caught and arrested) who last November had managed to board, without having any ticket or boarding pass, a Delta Airlines flight from New York JFK to Paris, mysteriously managing to evade security checks, passport control and the final 'barrier' represented by agents at the boarding gate.

Only, in that case, there was malice and in this one there was not. So much so that the passenger who boarded the wrong flight then had as much cab and flight fare paid for by the company to reach her 'real' destination.

Lena, a 79-year-old Swedish pensioner, was on her way some days to her son who works in Berlin via Copenhagen. A do-it-yourself transfer to which low-cost passengers are accustomed.

Only, arrived from Sweden on an easyJet flight and having to board another easyJet for the German capital, Lena ended up, still unclear how, in a queue that took her aboard a Ryanair Boeing 737 headed not to Berlin, but to Bologna.

"Once on board I could see the words 'Ryanair' everywhere. and I thought 'wait, wasn't this supposed to be an easyJet flight,'" Lena wondered, reporting her misadventure to the media. "But then," she continued, "I told myself that they had let me on board, so maybe they had re-routed me on another flight.

The doubt in the 79-year-old's mind turned into something more when noted that the flight took much longer than the 50 minutes it took to reach Berlin from Copenhagen. And it turned into despair when Lena read the words 'Welcome to Bologna' once she landed. Landing, she sent her son a whatsapp saying, "I'm in Bologna. Now what do I do?"

Ryanair, alerted by the man, paid Lena for a cab ride to Venice and from there (after a night in a hotel, also paid for), boarded her (we imagine with special care) on her flight the next day to Berlin. Where the 79-year-old arrived safely, albeit almost 24 hours later than originally scheduled.

Copenhagen airport authorities have opened an investigation. to find out what the 'leak' was that allowed a passenger to board a flight that was not his. While Ryanair stressed that it is the passenger's responsibility to board the correct flight, following the directions and announcements that are made.

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