Rafael Karoulla, 28, and his sister, Maggie, 30, arrived at London Gatwick Airport for their evening flight to Barcelona
A brother and sister arrived at the airport for their holiday, only to discover they were a whole year early for their flight. Rafael Karoulla, 28, and his sister, Maggie, 30, turned up at London Gatwick Airport on June 29 for their evening flight to Barcelona, Spain.
However, they soon discovered that they couldn’t check in online because they had mistakenly booked their easyJet flights for 2026 instead of 2025. Despite the mix-up, the siblings saw the funny side and managed to re-book flights for this year, ensuring they could still jet off to Spain for their trip.
Rafael, an advertising professional from Manchester, said: “I was really confident it was 2025. You wouldn’t think you could book for a year ahead.
“Once we got to London we had five hours to spend. We tried to do it online [check-in].
“We realised we’d booked for 2026. I started laughing.”
Before this incident, Rafael and Maggie, a flight attendant, had spent three weeks travelling around Thailand and then stopped in Rome, Italy, on their way back to Europe. They planned to end their holiday by spending time together in Barcelona, where Maggie lived.
Their journey involved a stopover flight – flying from Italy to London before heading to Spain. However, when they arrived in London and attempted to check in, they realised they couldn’t board the plane because the date on their ticket was for 2026.
Rafael had been reserving several flights simultaneously for their journey when he made the blunder – but hadn’t noticed his mistake on the email confirmation. His sister Maggie fortunately saw the amusing side.
He said: “I was booking so many flights I didn’t check that much. She was a bit p*ssed at me.
“But she was laughing at the same time. We were shocked.”
The duo had spent roughly £100 each for their flights, but managed to obtain seats on the same flight that day for £70 each. Rafael said: “We still have another ticket for next year – but we probably won’t use it.”
He is now far more cautious when he reserves things. Rafael said: “I didn’t think it was possible to book a year early.”
