Brit tourist lands 80 miles from Frankfurt Airport after booking blunder

James Cox wanted to take his girlfriend Chloe Hutchinson to Frankfurt, Germany, to propose however he was left red-faced following a blunder made during the booking

A young Brit ended up 80 miles from where he had hoped to holiday following a blunder during the booking.

James Cox, 28, had hoped to propose to Chloe Hutchinson, 31, during the one-night trip to Frankfurt, Germany however the couple landed up in "a derelict ghost town" 80 miles away. James felt "absolutely sick" when he realised the error — he had booked a flight to Frankfurt Hahn Airport, which is in a different part of Germany altogether.

James, who is from Ilford, east London, said: "I was in complete shock, I had no idea what to do. It completely threw all of my plans out the window. I was having a meltdown in the airport, I was so upset I didn't know what to do. I've never made a mistake with booking things and I felt absolutely sick."

It was only once they'd touched down that James, a carer, realised he was not in the right place and sheepishly had to explain to Chloe. However, the couple found a last-minute hotel in the "ghost town" of Lautzenhausen, which served as a major American military site during the Cold War, and made the most of their time away.

Defiant James proposed to Chloe anyway at an Italian restaurant in Lautzenhausen and she happily said 'yes'. They returned from the break last week and now want to warn others about the two airports with similar names, a mistake they say they've been told happens frequently.

"I fell asleep on the plane. As we were flying over Chloe could see fields and not a city at all but I was asleep so I had no clue. When we got off the plane I was looking around and it was a really small, quiet airport and there was no one there. I started panicking," James continued.

"We got to the bit where they do our passports and the man actually laughed at us. He had a bit of a chuckle and I didn't think anything of it. We decided to check Uber to see if we could get a taxi and it said 250 Euros. My face just dropped and Chloe said we were 80 miles away from Frankfurt.

"As soon as I realised I started texting my mum and I was like 'Mum, I messed up'. I remember texting my mum saying I was marrying the right person because she was chill."

Chloe, a mum of two, posted a video on TikTok making light of the situation. James, who has been dating his partner since November 2024, said: "Chloe was like 'okay, let's look for a hotel and let's figure out what's around us'. I was like 'oh my God she's taking this better than I am'.

"It was a ghost town. We didn't see anyone while we were walking through the town. We were having to walk past all these factories and this derelict town.

"We were just shocked because we've never been anywhere so quiet in all of our lives. When we turned up at our hotel we explained what happened and [a staff member said] 'you'd be really surprised at how often it happens'.

"Every person we came across said it happened all the time. This could be a bit more clear, I think the fact other people made that mistake as well."

Chloe, who is a content creator, said: "When we were walking through the town and we saw a lot of abandoned houses I did get a little bit worried and thought 'what am I going to do?'.

"I just thought 'do you know what? Let's make the most of it'. It made it even more special. It was something memorable and silly and I don't think it could be more us."