Talk about a computer error: One couple intending to fly from Los Angeles to Dakar, Senegal, was mistakenly taken to Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, which is 7,000 miles from their planned destination — and on a different continent.
The airline, Turkish Airlines, entered the wrong airport code, substituting DAC for DKR, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The couple realized they were headed in the wrong direction when they peered at a route map of the flight’s progress and saw their plane was over the Middle East, the L.A. Times said.
“When the flight attendant said we were heading to Dhaka, we believed that this was how you pronounced ’Dakar’ with a Turkish accent,” said Sandy Valdiviseo in the Daily Mail. She and her husband, Triet Vo, arranged a transfer to Senegal when they landed in Bangladesh — and subsequently requested the airline for compensation for the error.
“We are very, very sorry that this happened,” said a Turkish Airlines spokeswoman in the Daily Mail report.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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