When Vctor Caldern got to the main cabin of a United Airlines flight at L.A. International Airport, he plugged in his headphones and settled into his economy seat for what he thought was a Houston-bound flight.
Like most frequent fliers, he tuned out the pre-flight briefings and instead watched movies and listened to some music. A flight attendant later offered the 54-year-old a pillow, which he found unusual on a domestic flight. After two hours in the sky, he was given his first meal.
How strange, Caldern thought to himself noticing the meals Asian flavors. Usually they just give a snack and a soda.
Around the six-hour mark, it was clear something was very wrong. Why hadnt they landed in Houston, a 305-hour flight from LAX? Panicked about his situation, Caldern let a flight attendant know that he needed to be in Houston by 5 p.m. to catch a plane to his final destination of Managua, Nicaragua.
The Salvadoran-born Angeleno discovered he was already well into a 5,400-mile flight to Tokyo.
Caldern, in an interview Wednesday about the August incident, said he was stunned. He said when he boarded there were a number of gates in close proximity, including the gate for the international flight, which was leaving roughly around the same time as his flight to Texas. And the seat he had been assigned for his Houston flight, 34D, was unoccupied on the Tokyo flight.
Caldern said that after arriving at the airport he asked staff more than once for directions to Gate 75A, which was the gate indicated on his printed boarding pass.
As he boarded, the ticket agent just grabbed the ticket and scanned it, Caldern said.
So, once he landed in Tokyo, was Caldern able to make the best of a bad situation and take a look around a world-class city?
No. This was in no way like the New York City-Paris switcheroo from the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
He said that flight staff warned him that he could risk detention by leaving the airport because the act itself was considered illegal. According to the U.S. State Department, tourists must have a valid passport as well as proof of a return or onward ticket.
Just hours after he landed on Aug. 8, 2025, Caldern was put on another flight back to Los Angeles, never stepping foot outside the international wing of the Haneda Airport.
I was really scared, to be honest. [Especially] with everything thats happened in the past [with immigration] and even more so when the stewardess told me that I could be arrested. I was thinking the worst, he says. Theyre going to think Im a terrorist, so I was nervous.
United Airlines helped re-route Caldern to Nicaragua and the airline did bump up his seat to first class to make up for the mix-up. He made it to his destination 48 hours after his intended arrival.
In a statement, United officials said they had reached out to the airport team to understand how this happened and had apologized to the customer for his experience, offering travel credits and reimbursement.
We always advise customers to monitor the signs at the gate and boarding announcements to make sure the aircraft they board is going to their intended destination, the airline added.
Caldern said his compensation was $300 in flight credits, less than half of what he paid for his original flight.
Outraged, he contacted a consumer investigative unit with the Telemundo 52 station in Los Angeles that defends Spanish-speaking viewers against fraud, scams and injustices.
We had never heard of a case like this, said reporter Azalea I09iguez, where someone was able to get on an airplane that didnt have the authorization to be on that flight and, on top of that, that the airline wasnt giving them enough [compensation].
Caldern paid $655 for his original flight. He also had to buy clothes while his luggage remained elsewhere, and had to pay for a hotel in Managua because his original lodging plans fell through due to the mix-up.
The airline was essentially making him responsible for the error, I09iguez said. How is it possible that he got on that plane having a boarding pass [for Houston] and that no one detected him.
Telemundo 52 Responde asked United Airlines to reevaluate its decision, attaching receipts for the original flight, hotel and the clothes that Caldern purchased, which reached a total of $1,095. This month, the airline reconsidered the compensation offered and granted him a total of $1,000 in travel credits, according to the news outlet.
Caldern said his experience left him with a valuable lesson first thing is making sure its the right gate but also concern about airport security.
Theres supposed to be strict security here, and look at what happened to me, said Caldern. That means our security is vulnerable.
当维克托·卡尔德隆（Vctor Caldern）登上洛杉矶国际机场美联航航班的主舱时，他插上耳机，在经济舱座位上安顿下来，以为这是一趟飞往休斯顿的航班。
和大多数常旅客一样，他忽略了起飞前的安全演示，转而观看电影并听起了音乐。随后，一名空乘人员为这位54岁的乘客提供了枕头——这在国内航班上让他感到有些意外。飞行两小时后，他收到了第一餐。
卡尔德隆注意到餐食的亚洲风味，暗自思忖道："真奇怪，通常他们只提供零食和汽水。"
飞行约六小时后，情况显然非常不对劲。从洛杉矶国际机场到休斯顿的航程通常只需3小时左右，为何飞机仍未降落？卡尔德隆（Calderón）对自身处境感到恐慌，他告知空乘人员必须赶在下午5点前抵达休斯顿，以转机前往最终目的地——尼加拉瓜的马那瓜。
这位出生于萨尔瓦多的洛杉矶人发现，自己已经飞往东京的5400英里航程过半。
卡尔德龙在周三就八月事件接受采访时表示，他当时感到震惊。他回忆登机时，附近有多个登机口，包括一班国际航班的登机口，该航班与他飞往德克萨斯的航班大约同时起飞。而他原本被安排在飞往休斯顿航班的34D座位，在飞往东京的航班上却是空着的。
卡尔德龙表示，抵达机场后，他曾多次向工作人员询问75A登机口的方向，该登机口是其纸质登机牌上标注的位置。
卡尔德隆表示，当他登机时，售票员“直接抓过机票进行了扫描”。
那么，卡尔德龙（Calderón）抵达东京后，是否能在不利局面中把握机会，一睹这座国际大都市的风采呢？
不，这完全不同于1992年电影《小鬼当家2：迷失纽约》中纽约与巴黎的错位情节。
他表示，机组人员曾警告他，离开机场可能面临拘留风险，因为这一行为本身被视为“非法”。根据美国国务院规定，游客必须持有有效护照以及返程或续程机票的证明。
2025年8月8日，卡尔德隆（Calderón）刚落地几小时，就被安排转乘另一班飞机返回洛杉矶，始终未曾踏出羽田机场国际航站楼半步。
“说实话，我当时真的很害怕。尤其是考虑到过去在移民问题上发生的一切，当空乘人员告诉我可能会被逮捕时，我就更加恐惧了，”他说，“我当时想到了最坏的情况，担心他们会把我当成恐怖分子，所以非常紧张。”
美国联合航空公司为卡尔德隆改签了前往尼加拉瓜的航班，并为其升舱至头等舱作为行程混乱的补偿。他比原计划抵达时间晚了48小时到达目的地。
美联航官员在一份声明中表示，他们已联系机场团队以了解事件经过，并就乘客的不愉快体验致歉，同时提供了旅行积分和赔偿。
该航空公司补充道：“我们始终建议乘客留意登机口的指示牌及广播通知，以确保所乘航班将飞往预定目的地。”
卡尔德龙表示，他获得的赔偿是价值300美元的航班代金券，还不到他原机票价格的一半。
愤怒之下，他联系了洛杉矶Telemundo 52电视台的消费者调查部门，该部门致力于为西班牙语观众防范欺诈、骗局及不公行为提供维权服务。
“我们从未听说过这样的案例，”记者阿扎莉娅·伊涅格斯（Azalea Iñiguez）表示，“有人未经授权登上了航班，而航空公司却未能给予他们足够的赔偿。”
卡尔德龙为原定航班支付了655美元。由于行李滞留在别处，他不得不购置衣物，又因行程混乱导致原定住宿计划落空，只得自费入住马那瓜的酒店。
伊涅格斯表示：“航空公司实际上是在让他为这一错误负责。他拿着飞往休斯顿的登机牌登上了那架飞机，竟然没有人发现，这怎么可能？”
据媒体报道，Telemundo 52 Responde栏目要求美联航重新评估其决定，并附上了卡尔德隆（Calderón）最初航班、酒店及所购衣物的收据，总计1095美元。本月，该航空公司"重新考虑了赔偿方案"，最终向他提供了总计1000美元的旅行代金券。
卡尔德龙表示，这段经历让他收获了一个宝贵的教训——‘首先要确认登机口是否正确’，同时也引发了他对机场安检的担忧。
卡尔德隆表示："这里本应有严格的安保措施，但看看我遭遇了什么。这说明我们的安保系统存在漏洞。"
原创文章，作者：孙杰，如若转载，请注明出处：http://m.gaochengzhenxuan.com/keji/4180.html
