Travelers choosing wrong airport
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 A lot of the people are pretty distraught. 
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-- Chuck Burns, AmericanConnection general manager
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LAFAYETTE, Indiana (AP) -- Booking flights online has led some travelers bound for Louisiana far afield of their intended destination -- about 761 miles astray.
About once a month, a passenger who had expected to step off the plane in Lafayette, Louisiana, shows up at Purdue University Airport in west-central Indiana.
"Most of the people speak very little or no English," said Chuck Burns, general manager of AmericanConnection, the commercial carrier at the Purdue airport.
"We try to accommodate them the best we can and get them down there. A lot of the people are pretty distraught."
The problem apparently lies with travelers who use the Internet to book flights and choose the wrong three-letter airport code, confusing West Lafayette's LAF code for Lafayette, Louisiana, which has LFT as its code.
The problem with misdirected fliers was more frequent when Northwest Airlink had operations at the Purdue airport, because the airline served both Lafayettes until it pulled out of Purdue in December.
Northwest even offered misdirected fliers a special fare to the other Lafayette, Purdue airport Director Betty Stansbury said.
Similar problems have occurred at airports in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Grand Rapids, Minnesota, as well as in Rochester, Minnesota, and Rochester, New York, and a host of other U.S. cities.
"You feel bad for the people," Burns said. "It's not their fault."
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