Ever since the majority of BP's are scanned by the optical bar code rather than thru the mechanical gate reader, there are more and more instances of the CSR not being able to get the optical reader to register the code (paper is crinkled, has poor contrast, whatever); he then just either sets the BP aside, or waives you thru (jotting down your seat number on any stray thing he can find), intending to enter your seat manually or try to rescan the BP "later". Sometimes he forgets (although he's not supposed to, as then they don't have a proper manifest,) or does it after the door is closed. So the OP's BP might never have been scanned at the time he took a seat. It might or might not have been noticed before they left the blocks.

Certainly there would have been worse places to end up.

It was an unboarded situation and I believe I was the only one who was not overserved....

Where ever you go there you are.

The only occurrence I know of was a good friend who boarded a wrong plane in Libya. This was back in the 80's and the signs were in Arabic and the plane had free seating. He wound up in Europe instead of Bangkok bound.

I used to travel so much that flights became a blur. I once boarded a flight, took my seat and panicked when the FA announced the plane was heading to Tampa. As I also had business in Orlando on that trip, I had it in my head that I was going to Orlando first. After she made her announcement, I quickly checked my ticket and realized "duh, I guess I am going to Tampa."

How the hell does a gate agent let you on the wrong plane? Wouldn't they have scanned your boarding card on the little machine thing and if they did, wouldn't the computer blare out some kind of warning? You know, "THIS PASSENGER DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS AIRCRAFT" Kind of warning?

Take a look at post#61 above: almost surely his BP was not scanned at the time he boarded. Had he not been found via the seat duplication, the CSR might have found the error when he eventually did scan or enter the seat number.

On a WN flight a few years ago, my seat mate was on the wrong plane. We were headed MDW-IAD and she was supposed to be going to Cleveland. The FAs didn't even know what to say to her when she brought it to their attention. Unfortunately for her, she had to go all the way back to MDW and then on to Cleveland. That was an enjoyable two hours listening to her freak out...

Was connecting in ORD once to EWR, and a number of people boarded my connection trying to get to DCA - their gate changed, and some didn't realize. They made an announcement during boarding once this was realized, and it seems everyone got on the right plane eventally.

Also, in Dayton once going to IAD, and the ORD flight was late, and boarding at the gate next to us at the same time. One pax came into my row, looking for his "B" seat, which obviously didn't exist on our ER4. He got onto the right plane eventually too.

In short, sometimes, GA's don't scan the boarding passes, and I'm not sure what kind of alert the system gives the GA when they do and it is for a different flight. Does anyone know?

Happened to me once when Great Lakes flew out of those outside gates at the end of the B concourse in DEN. With 5-7 planes out there, and no FA onboard (since they are Beech 1900's and only pilots), it can happen. The GA pulls your BP then points and you are at the mercy of the ground crew with props buzzing half the times. I used to fly CYS-DEN-CYS (then onward from DEN to wherever) every week back then, and once I got on the flight to Laramie and several times people got on the wrong plane, then off before leaving.

It always was a zoo there back in the day.

It may beep, but they may assume its a seat change or some other issue they'll deal with later on and just wave you on. It's what happened to me when I almost boarded a TED flight to the wrong destination (unf it was going to be TED regardless). I realized in the jetway when I overheard a conversation nearby and starting asking where folks were headed. I told the GA on my out of the jetway that she needs to pay more attention to the error messages, before heading over to the gate for the correct flight.

I have been an ORD-SGF flight several times when SGF and SPI boarded from the same "gate" and it is really annoying. I wish United or United Express actually had that policy but better yet , if they had real jetways and real gates it would be less of a problem.

I did that a few weeks ago and they didn't know, neither did the FA. They had to ask the Captain.

Yes, they should. The UX gate readers at T2 in ORD make a rather loud two-tone repeating beep when the bp is not for that flight. People very frequently try to board the wrong plane when they are doing departures from shared gates (hey, if they can't understand priority/zone boarding instructions, why expect them to follow instructions as far as where the plane is going :rolleyes:).

Right before pushback once on a ATL-MEM flight, an off duty FA caught some folks seated near her who didn't speak much english and were intending to go to MSP.

Could all be obviated if announcement was made before the plane door is closed ----

"This flight is going to ....... - If that is not where you are
going please deplane and see the gate agent. "

This stuff does happen but some passengers are to blame - They simply don't read, listen, question anything. Duh !