The Daily Populous Monday April 29th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by diacewrb

But the centenarian says she would like the glitch to be fixed as it has caused her some problems in the past.

For example, on one occasion, airport staff did not have transport ready for her inside the terminal as they were expecting a baby who could be carried.

The glitch the BBC witnessed happened when Patricia was flying between Chicago and Marquette, Michigan - a flight this reporter was also travelling on.

Patricia was flying with her daughter, Kris.

“My daughter made the reservation online for the ticket and the computer at the airport thought my birth date was 2022 and not 1922," she told me.

"The same thing happened last year and they were also expecting a child and not me."

Patricia’s seat was booked as an adult ticket.

But it appears the airport computer system is unable to process a birth date so far in the past - so it defaulted to one 100 years later instead.

The former nurse, who flies every year to see family and escape the cold winters, says on both occasions staff at American Airlines were kind and helpful, in spite of the confusion.

American Airlines has not responded to a request for comment.

The centenarian says she would like it to be fixed. On a previous flight, Patricia and her daughter were waiting inside the plane after other passengers had left, as airport staff had not arranged a wheelchair for her.

She says having her real age acknowledged would also be beneficial for Kris.

“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.

Kineth on April 28th, 2024 at 14:18 UTC »

Sorta surprised that a hundred year old person is flying regularly enough for this to be an issue.

xampl9 on April 28th, 2024 at 11:04 UTC »

geeze. It’s like Y2K all over again.

Developers: Store four-digit years. Don’t try and calculate ages.

diacewrb on April 28th, 2024 at 10:16 UTC »

> The problem occurs because American Airlines' systems apparently cannot compute that Patricia, who did not want to share her surname, was born in 1922, rather than 2022.

and

> But it appears the airport computer system is unable to process a birth date so far in the past - so it defaulted to one 100 years later instead.