He Meant to Go to SYD, Booked Ticket to SDY

Kingsley Burnett intended to go to Australia, wound up in Montana
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2023 9:00 AM CST
He Meant to Go to SDY, Booked Ticket to SYD
   (Getty Images / africanpix)

JFK. LAX. Some airport codes are burned into our collective memory. The airport code for Sydney, Australia, not so much. That turned out to be highly problematic for one New York man, who booked a flight to that city Down Under and planned to depart on a cruise from it. But during the late January flight, Kingsley Burnett says "I saw [mountaintops] covered in white snow ... At that point, I knew I was in trouble." It turns out the 62-year-old had booked a flight not to SYD but to SDY. The latter is another Sidney—Sidney, Montana. KTVQ reports he landed in Billings with a connecting flight to Sidney.

Burnett explained the mix-up by saying he had been so focused on finding the most economical fare that he hadn't been vigilant enough about the final destination. Once in Billings, he learned there was no way he would make it to his intended Sydney before the cruise departed. He found help in the form of American Airlines' Carol Castellano, who reportedly didn't just book him a flight back home but secured him a hotel room and phoned the cruise line to explain the mix-up; he rescheduled the Australia trip for June. The Fresno Bee notes that a different kind of Sydney goof has befuddled travelers in the past: There's also a Sydney in Nova Scotia, Canada. (More strange stuff stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X