A group of 31 students, teachers, and parents say they were stranded in Japan and forced to take a 48-hour journey around the world to get home to Texas

15.08.2023 - 20:37 / insider.com

What kicked off as an adventure through Japan ended in a travel nightmare for a group of 31 high school students, teachers, and parents. 

Speaking to Insider, Carnegie Vanguard High School Spanish teacher Trevor Boffone shared the story of how the group's journey home turned into a four-flight ordeal that took 48 hours. 

The group had finished a nine-day tour of Japan hosted by EF Tours. They were scheduled to fly out of Osaka's domestic airport, but when they arrived at the check-in desk, they were told they didn't have tickets. 

Boffone posted about the ordeal to his TikTok account @official_dr_boffone. The video went viral, gaining 1.6 million views since it was posted on Sunday.

"Two days ago we get to the Osaka airport. We try to check in, and they're like, 'No. You have a reservation, not a booking,'" Boffone says in the video.

That was just the beginning of the fiasco.

Boffone said their original American Airlines flight reservation was from Osaka to Tokyo, Japan. From Tokyo, the group would take a long-haul flight to Dallas, Texas, and make a final connection to Houston, Texas.

Japan Airlines was the partner airline that was scheduled to get the group from Osaka to Tokyo. 

The flights were booked through EF Tours, and the group had a confirmed reservation for the paid flights when they showed up at the airport.

But workers at Japan Airlines' check-in desk couldn't find their tickets. 

"They had probably eight check-in desks open, and we had all of them taken up at the same time," Boffone said. "I think every employee with Japan Airlines was out and about trying to figure it out. They kept telling us that there was a reservation but there wasn't a booking."

Boffone and other adults on the trip were told that American Airlines did not send the flight information to Japan Airlines, and therefore they didn't have tickets for the flight to Tokyo. 

American Airlines and Japan Airlines did not respond to Insider's request for comment. 

Speaking to KHOU, Carolina Escobedo, a student on the group said, "Honestly, I didn't believe it at first. I thought they were trying to pull a prank on us."

It wasn't a prank. Initially, Boffone said all parties involved refused to take responsibility and help the group find a new route home. 

In a statement sent to Insider, an EF Tours representative said, "We regret that the group's flights were disrupted due to what appears to have been a booking miscommunication between American Airlines and Japan Airlines.  EF Tours' booking records have always designated the group's flights as confirmed in our system."

When the group called American Airlines, Boffone said the airline offered to rebook the group on a flight that would depart 12 days later.

That didn't work —