US couple flies to Dhaka instead of Dakar due to airport code mix-up

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines planes are seen taxiing on the tarmac of the Ataturk Airport on May 15, 2013 in Istanbul. Sandy Valdivieso and Triet Vo, who had bought tickets from Turkish Airlines (THY) to fly to Dakar, capital of Senegal, via Istanbul, ended up in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE

A U.S. couple found themselves nearly 11,000 kilometers away from their planned destination, on another continent, following an error which occurred because of a mistaken airport code, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Sandy Valdivieso and Triet Vo, who had bought tickets from Turkish Airlines (THY) to fly to Dakar, capital of Senegal, via Istanbul, ended up in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Dakar is located in western Africa, however Dhaka is in South Asia.

Valdivieso said they realized there was an error when they noticed the plane was full of people who looked Asian, not African.

However, "When the flight attendant said we were heading to Dhaka, we believed that this was how you pronounced 'Dakar' with a Turkish accent," Valdivieso said.

It turned out to be an error by the THY desk who printed the wrong airport code.

The boarding passes were printed with the code of "DAC" which signifies Dhaka, however they were supposed to be marked "DKR" for Dakar.

THY proposed to make amends by offering Valdivieso and Vo two free economy-class tickets to anywhere the carrier flies, however the couple were not satisfied with this compensation.

THY officials told daily Hürriyet that they would not let the couple suffer from the incident and they would take the necessary steps to rectify the mistake.