A man from Canada ended up on the "longest flight of his life" - flying nearly 2,300 kilometres in the wrong direction - all thanks to a series of unfortunate events. Christopher Paetkau, a wildlife photographer and filmmaker, was heading from Yellowknife to Inuvik on Sunday when he accidentally boarded a flight to Iqaluit, 2,260 kilometres in the other direction, reports CBC. It all happened when, while boarding, he asked a flight attendant if his flight was going to Inuvik and she jokingly responded, "yeah, eventually".
The mix-up started with some confusion at the airport, where three different flights were boarding at the same time. "I heard final boarding calls for three different flights, all at the same time," he told The Province.
While boarding, he asked a flight attendant if he was getting on the flight to Inuvik, and she jokingly replied in the affirmative.
Mr Paetkau says he didn't realise he was on the wrong flight until several hours later, when they landed in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. It was only when he asked another flight attendant when they would arrive at Inuvik that they realised the mix-up.
"The woman who told me that we'd be arriving in Inuvik eventually, she felt horrible. She was like, 'Oh my God I didn't take you seriously, like, I thought you were joking," Mr Paetkau told CBC.
"In fact the person who had boarded previously, I later learned ... had got on the plane and said, 'When do we arrive in Hawaii?' So she thought I was joking, so she responded back with a joke."
A video shared by Mr Paetkau on Twitter has collected over 2 lakh views.
I just boarded the wrong airplane and flew to the wrong destination. Can't believe it.
- Christopher Paetkau (@ChrisPaetkau) August 13, 2018
Where will I end up next?#arctic #firstair #yellowknife #airtravel @CBCManitoba #winnipeg pic.twitter.com/DfZYa4ATjW
Despite the confusion, Mr Paetkau says the flight crew and the airline - First Air - did everything to help him.
He was flown back to Yellowknife where he was put up in a hotel before flying to Inuvik on Monday afternoon.
"The flight attendant and I became basically buds. We were in the air for like 14 hours, longest flight of my life, longer than any international flight I've ever done," he said.
Kind of incredible how this happened. But I'm heading back to #Yellowknife now after a tour of the #arctic. Decided to make the best of it... so did the @FirstAir captain and crew. We're buds now! pic.twitter.com/qVECX6OKeQ
- Christopher Paetkau (@ChrisPaetkau) August 13, 2018
The airline responded to Mr Paetkau's tweet.
We aim to please! Since you're buds with our crew and Captain, you're friends with the entire First Air family too! We expect a holiday party invite of course! https://t.co/SLezZQKJ9j
- First Air (@FirstAir) August 13, 2018
According to The Province, First Air spokesperson Dan Valin has said that the incident is being investigated.
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