7 On Your Side helps solves travel mix-up with Volaris Airlines

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Imagine thinking you're going to Paris and ending up not in France, but in Paris, Arkansas, population 3,700.

That's the kind of mix-up that plagued an international airline launching a new service.

Passengers looking to fly out of San Jose arrived at Mineta International Airport learning their flight was leaving on time, but 3,000 miles away.

Patricia Moran accompanied her mom to Mineta San Jose international Airport.

She had helped her mother book a flight on Volaris Airlines from San Jose to Guadalajara. When the two showed up at the Volaris check-in counter, passengers were standing around looking confused and frustrated. The Volaris check-in counter was deserted.

"Not only was there no one there, but no one was there to find a solution for them," Moran said through a translator.

Moran would soon learn by phone that the flight she thought was leaving from San Jose, Calif. was actually leaving from San Jose, Costa Rica.

It's easy to assume this was Moran's error, but another stranded passenger took a picture of some of the others expecting to fly to Guadalajara that day from Mineta. Volaris confirms there were many others.

"We have eight bookings, eight bookings that we were given in advance that affects 11 customers," said Holger Blankenstein of Volaris.

Volaris also confirms five more passengers showed up attempting to book the same flight. The airline says it understands the confusion.

"We're flying through three San Joses now, which is San Jose, Calif., San Jose De Los Cabos in Baja, Calif. and San Jose, Costa Rica," Blankenstein said.

In all, 7 On Your Side received complaints from five of the eight who booked flights they thought were out of Mineta.

Moran's mother's confirmation specifically said she was flying out of San Jose, Calif. Other passengers received confirmation they were flying from San Jose to Guadalajara without being specific about which San Jose.

Adding to the confusion, the day Moran and the others wanted to fly to Guadalajara was also the first day Volaris offered service to Guadalajara from San Jose, Costa Rica. Volaris says most of the errant bookings happened the first few days of the sale.

"There might have been a window of a couple of days where it wasn't a 100 percent clear," Blankenstein said.

Moran says the missteps caused undue stress on all the passengers

"Others were on the verge of tears because they had to be somewhere. I was frustrated myself until I found ABC," Moran said.

We contacted Volaris and it agreed to refund all the passengers.

"We'll take care of them. There's nothing to worry about. We'll give either a full refund or have them fly to Guadalajara at any later date," Blankenstein said.

Volaris said it would continue to look for ways to make their website more clear.