Steven Roberts, 31, from Leeds in the UK, had saved up for a dream holiday in Costa Rica and booked a British Airways flight from London to its capital, San Jose.

But it was only after he arrived at Heathrow Airport for his flight, Roberts realised he’d booked flights to the wrong San Jose — and was about to board a plane for the one in California.

The Independent reports Mr Roberts only realised his mistake when a mate texted him from Gatwick Airport, asking where he was.

He shared on Facebook the text message exchange in which he realised his terrible mistake.

“Are you sure you’re going to the right San Jose?” his friend asked. “Not the one in the states!”

“BA 279,” Mr Roberts responded to his friend.

“OK,” the friend replied. “I just remembered there’s another city called [that] that’s all.”

And then the penny dropped. “Ducking hell,” was Mr Roberts’ reply.

According to The Independent, Mr Roberts spent close to £1000 ($A1800), rerouting to the correct San Jose in Costa Rica.

It may comfort Mr Roberts to know he’s not the first person to make that kind of mistake.

Last year a couple were left devastated after they saved up for a dream trip to Las Vegas but booked the flights out of the wrong city of Birmingham.

British pair Richella Heekin and Ben Marlow, who were going to Las Vegas to celebrate Mr Marlow’s 30th birthday, meant to fly out of Birmingham in England’s West Midlands but accidentally booked the flight out of Birmingham, Alabama.

The couple lost all $2300 they had paid towards the trip.

And in 2008, a tourist from Argentina who wanted to visit Sydney, Australia accidentally booked her flight to the city of the same name in Canada.

She only realised her mistake when she boarded a small plane in Halifax, Canada, that took her to the former coal mining town of Sydney, Nova Scotia, a fair distance from Australia’s more famous Harbour City.