( CNN ) It was the opportunity of a lifetime for a young Ghanaian boy -- a scholarship to study medicine in Guyana . But his journey did n't go quite as expected . Emmanuel Akomanyi could n't get a direct flight to Guyana so he boarded a plane in Ghana to Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo , Brazil . There , he bought a ticket to his final destination in Guyana -- a South American country on the Caribbean coast bordering Surinam , Venezuela and Brazil . But when he got off the plane , he was not in Guyana -- he was in the city of Goiania , Brazil -- almost 3,000 kilometers away from where he needed to go . Akomanyi spent a week in Brazil , supported by strangers as he had no money . The airline that sold him the original ticket eventually helped him out with a new flight to Guyana 's Cheddi Jagan International Airport , near the capital Georgetown . You 'd think with all the technology at our disposal , destination mix-ups like what Akomanyi experienced would be a rarity . Not so . They 're surprisingly common . In June of 2014 , a couple boarded a plane to the southern Caribbean island of Grenada , instead of their desired destination -- the ancient city of Granada , Spain . U.S. dentist Edward Gamson thought he 'd bought tickets from London 's Gatwick Airport to Granada , Spain , for himself and his partner via a British Airways booking agent , but only realized he was actually headed to Grenada in the Caribbean once on board , reported The Independent . The destination country and flight duration had n't been listed on his e-tickets , which instead displayed only the city name . `` It 's just so sad , '' Gamson told The Independent . `` A trip we had been really looking forward to was ruined and ... BA wo n't do the decent thing . '' Gamson claimed the airline refused to reimburse his first-class tickets and did n't reroute the travelers to Granada from Grenada . He ended up suing British Airways for the cost of the trip , including planned tours in Spain that he and his partner did n't get to take , but the case was reportedly dismissed . Remarkably , the same mix-up happened earlier that same month . Lamenda Kingdon from Plymouth , UK , had also booked a British Airways flight to Granada , Spain , but found herself on a flight bound for Grenada in the Caribbean . She 'd planned the trip after being diagnosed with cancer . When notified of the mistake , the BA crew moved Kingdon to first class and sent her back to Gatwick when the flight made a scheduled stop in St. Lucia , reported the Daily Mail . `` I genuinely do n't blame anyone , '' she told the Daily Mail . `` The person on the other end of the phone probably just misheard me . I honestly did n't notice the spelling difference . '' In May 2013 , Sandy Valdivieso and her husband , Triet Vo , boarded a Turkish Airlines flight in Los Angeles , intending to travel to Dakar , Senegal , in western Africa , but ended up in Dhaka , Bangladesh . The mix-up was due to the similar sounding destinations and airport codes . The couple did n't realize the error until they were already on their connecting flight from Istanbul . `` When the flight attendant said we were heading to Dhaka , we believed that this was how you pronounced 'Dakar ' with a Turkish accent , '' Valdivieso told the LA Times . In December 2013 , 85-year-old Maria Nieves ended up in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , after she 'd booked a Southwest Airlines flight to Fort Myers , Florida . It was the second time such a mix-up had happened to her -- two years ago , the airline flew Nieves to Tampa , Florida , instead of New Orleans , Louisiana . According to Louisiana 's WAFB , Nieves had requested wheelchair assistance , which meant airline staff were responsible for assisting her from gate to gate . `` I can see it happening once , but twice to the same person , it 's kind of like lightning striking twice in the same place , '' her son Robert Ortiz told WAFB . Last June , a VietJet Air plane that took off from Hanoi landed at the wrong airport . Instead of arriving in Cam Ranh Airport near Nha Trang , the aircraft landed 140 kilometers away in Da Lat . The airline flew the misdirected passengers to their original destination via another flight , reported local news outlet Thanh Nien News . In January earlier that year , another Southwest Airlines plane landed at a small airport in Taney County , Missouri , approximately seven miles from where it was meant to land at Branson Airport . Due to the difference in airport runway lengths -- Taney County airport 's runway is 3,738 feet compared with Branson Airport 's 7,140 feet -- pilots were forced to brake hard when the plane touched down . No one was hurt and the airline refunded all tickets and provided future travel credit for passengers . Originally published June 2014 , updated February 2015 .
Ghanaian boy headed for Guyana ends up in Goiania , Brazil instead . Score: 6