MAY 4 COMMON AIRLINE DESTINATION MIX-UPS

MAY 4  COMMON AIRLINE DESTINATION MIX-UPS

Once found in every strip mall in the nation, the travel agency is now on the endangered business list. Hit hard by the advent of online airline ticketing, these days a travel agent is about as common as a DVD player. Yet this doesn't mean they aren't still needed. See, everyday, Geography-challenged consumers purchase airline tickets to the wrong destination. Here are four such stories:

San Jose, California / San Jose, Costa Rica. Four thousand miles separate the Latin American capital from the American tech capital. When Spanish colonists named two cities after Saint John, they thought this was far enough apart. Not anymore! Let's see: Both cities have large populations, big airports and similar codes: SJO & SJC. Callie Zucker thought she had clicked on the correct one when she bought tickets online. When the flight home from Italy landed in the tropics, she realized her mistake.

Auckland, New Zealand / Oakland, California. Perhaps the most famous mix-up happened decades ago to Michael Lewis. After flying home from Germany, he was switching flights at LAX. When he heard the announcer at the gate announce a similar sounding city name, he got in line. How did he board the flight? He asked: "Oakland?" and the attendant said "Yes!" Next, the flight crew somehow forgot to scan his incorrect boarding pass. Ouch! Fortunately, Air New Zealand flew back the exhausted passenger for free the next day.

Granada, Spain / Grenada, West Indies. Although not commonly confused, Travel & Leisure covered a humorous tale about this item recently. It involves Lameda Kingdon from the UK. She proudly booked herself a getaway to sunny Granada. She boarded a flight that she thought was going to Spain. After a gin & tonic, she naturally chatted up the passenger seated next to her. "She corrected my pronunciation," explains Kingdon. "No, dear. They call it Gren-a-da." Lameda had never even heard of the place she was flying to.

Sydney, NSW / Sydney, Nova Scotia. This one is funny because the two destinations are so dreadfully far apart. This was made painfully apparent to Milan Shipper, an adventurous 18-year old from Holland. He booked...all by himself...a spectacular hiking trip Down Under. Yet after transferring planes in Toronto, he knew something was afoot. First, he wondered if the twenty-seat aircraft was big enough to cross an ocean. Also, the "plane was going right, not left," explained Shipper.

So...remember readers...always triple-check those online airfares. Happy travels!