Couple lose £1,200 after picking 'wrong Birmingham' in holiday flight ticket blunder

'Obviously it was the humiliation as well,' says woman who booked flight

The flight for the couple to Las Vegas was a domestic flight from inside the US (Rex Features)

A couple who saved up for a holiday trip from Birmingham to Las Vegas were left distraught when they realised they had mistakenly booked a flight from the US city of Birmingham, Alabama.

Richella Heekin had saved up £1,200 to take boyfriend Ben Marlow on a surprise trip and announced the treat to friends and family on his birthday.

Yet the pair discovered upon arriving at Birmingham Airport that the BHM airport code on their tickets meant Birmingham in Alabama, not the Midlands city in England.

"I was really upset," she told the Birmingham Mail.

"Obviously it was more the humiliation as well, all our friends and family knew, everybody had given Ben dollars as his birthday present."

Ms Heekin, who booked the flight in January through Lastminute.com, said that when she rang the website and American Airlines to explain the situation, she was told she could not retrieve the money.

Birmingham Airport, which the couple had confused with an airport in Alabama by the same name (Google Street View)

"We looked at the departures board and saw there was no connecting flight, no American Airlines, and we went to the desk and there was nobody there," said Ms Heekin.

"Lastminute said there was nothing they could do, it was non-refundable."

Instead the pair, who are both care workers for children, bought flights to Amsterdam on a credit card to use the two weeks they had booked off work.

Birmingham Airport in Alabama, where the couple's flights were waiting (Google Street View)

Lastminute.com said it tried to find alternative flights and contacted the airline and hotel for a refund but one could not be given.

It is the latest incident during which England's second city was mistaken for its namesake in Alabama.

In 2008, Birmingham City Council printed 720,000 leaflets about recycling with a picture of the Birmingham Alabama skyline, defending themselves afterwards by saying "the text is correct which is the main thing."