An inquiry has been ordered by Ryanair after two families missed their flight to Spain after airline staff mistakenly let them board the wrong plane to Latvia.
Ryanair staff at East Midlands allowed the six holidaymakers to board a flight to Riga rather than their chosen destination of Almeria.
Stephen Pritchard, from Cannock, said his boarding pass was checked three times as he was ushered onto the wrong aircraft on Tuesday morning.
He and another family discovered they were on an aircraft taking them 1,850 miles away from their chosen destination just minutes before it was due to take off.
By the time the mistake had been discovered they had missed their flight to Spain.
They were told to take a taxi to Birmingham airport for the next available flight to Spain 11 hours later, the Leicester Mercury reported.
A Ryanair spokesman said: “While it is the responsibility of each customer to ensure they board the correct aircraft, we have asked our handling agent at East Midlands to investigate this incident and ensure it does not recur.
“We sincerely apologise to the customers in question.”