After the mad dash from Arrivals to Departures, I heaved a sigh of relief as I settled in my seat at 45G. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t the best seat on the plane but I wasn’t grumbling. Charles de Gaulle is notorious for its long snaky lines at Immigration and with just an hour between flights, I was apprehensive about making the connection to my onward flight .

Before I could unwrap my blanket, the passenger in the neighbouring seat made herself comfortable. She was middle aged and as she kept two bags under the seat, I hoped I wouldn’t have too much trouble requesting her to allow me access to the aisle.

I’m not much of a wanderer in a plane but it’s hard not to visit the loo on a 8 hour flight.

“Excuse me, I think you’re sitting in my seat,” said a young voice to my neighbour.

The lady looked puzzled and fished out her boarding pass.

It mentioned her name and the seat number. It was the same ! 45H !

Both of them were amazed . How could it happen? Undoubtedly their last names were the same but their PNRs and places of origin were different. They not only flew in from different countries but on two airlines as well!

Both ladies were off loaded and I don’t know how they got home.

As for me, I  was grateful it didn’t happen to  45 G.

But I wonder what happened to the ladies. Did they travel first class? Did they sue the airlines? 

Most remarkable was of course the glitch. When everything is automated , how could there be a mistake?

Any ideas anyone ?

Ps : while the story is true, the boarding pass is purely representational.