Most holiday-makers would be delighted to find themselves transported to the lush island paradise of Grenada in the Caribbean.

Not Edward Gamson and his partner, however, who thought they had booked a flight to Granada in Spain.

The couple first noticed that a mix-up had taken place when the in-flight electronic map showed their aircraft heading west out of London.

Instead of a two-hour flight to Spain, the couple found themselves in the air for nine hours, en route to the Caribbean, 4,000 miles from their planned destination. Mr Gamson, a dentist from the US, blames a British Airways booking agent for the error and is now suing the airline for $34,000 in US courts.

He said: "I made it absolutely clear to the booking agent I wanted to go to Granada in Spain.

"Why on earth would I want to go to Grenada in the Caribbean if I was flying back to America from Lisbon?"

Mr Gamson said that he and his partner had been planning to visit Granada's 11th-century Alhambra palace.

"I have a lifelong interest in Islamic art. I'm also of Spanish Jewish heritage, so it was something I had always wanted to do to visit Granada and the Alhambra," he said.

Crew on board the flight reportedly apologised for the mistake but British Airways refused to reimburse the £2,650 they paid for the first class tickets.

British Airways has resisted Mr Gamson's claim for damages, but an American judge rejected the airline's attempt to have part of his lawsuit struck out. The claim is now expected to go to a full hearing.

Mr Gamson said: "It's just so sad. A trip we had been really looking forward to was ruined and BA won't do the decent thing."