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101-year-old traveler repeatedly listed as baby because of airline software glitch

What a bunch of airheads.

American Airlines’ booking system has repeatedly confused a 101-year-old woman for an infant, creating hassles during her annual flights to visit family in Michigan.

The mix-up is being caused by the airline reservation software’s apparent inability to correctly input her actual birth year — 1922 — defaulting to 2022 instead.

“It was funny that they thought I was only a little child, and I’m an old lady!” said Patricia, 101, a retired nurse, who only gave her first name to BBC reporter Joe Tidy when the pair recently flew on the same flight together.


Passengers in a commercial airplane
American Airlines has repeatedly listed a 101-year-old woman as a baby in its registration logs because of an apparent software glitch. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

While the centenarian has taken the recurring misunderstandings with good humor, she admits she wishes the glitch would be addressed, as it’s made traveling less predictable and more inconvenient.

She told the outlet that on one occasion, the airport didn’t have motorized transportation ready for her at the terminal because staffers were anticipating a baby, who would be carried or pushed in a stroller.

“I would like them to fix the computer, as my poor daughter had to carry all our luggage and apparel almost a mile from one gate to the other,” she said.

On another trip, Patricia and her daughter Kris were stuck in limbo waiting inside a plane after every other passenger had disembarked because the flight crew was unaware that a wheelchair was needed.


An American Airlines jet.
The elderly flier has taken the mix-ups in good humor but says she wishes that American would address the glitch because it has caused hassles for her and her family. NurPhoto via Getty Images

But she told the outlet that flight crews and airport staff have always been helpful and kind in clearing up the confusion once they learn about it.

Patricia, who flies from Chicago to Marquette, Mich., to see family once a year, made the trip by herself until she was 97. She now depends on family to accompany her, since her vision has declined.

She’s already planning her next trip to Michigan this fall.

American Airlines did not respond to The Post’s request for comment Sunday.

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