Narrative:

Air carrier XXXX was taxied to runway 01L for departure; however; ground control passed the strip for company air carrier yxyx. I loaded and departed air carrier XXXX using and receiving the call sign of air carrier yxyx in all read backs. Upwind; I noticed the aircraft execute a right turn vs. The left turn I was expecting. I asked air carrier yxyx what departure procedure he was on and was told the SFO8 (as opposed to the PORTE3 SID). Sensing I was given the wrong strip; I asked the flight crew to verify their call sign and destination; they informed me they were air carrier XXXX northbound not air carrier yxyx heading southwest bound. Both ground control and the flight crew should have noticed the discrepancy in call sign before reaching the runway. Listening to the read backs would've eventually tipped off the problem. Unfortunately; the aircraft responded to and read back the wrong call sign by the time they were on my tower frequency.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A SFO Tower Controller had a confused departure event when the wrong strip; with incorrect routing information; was passed along to Local Control with the Flight Crew responding to and with the wrong call sign.

Narrative: Air Carrier XXXX was taxied to Runway 01L for departure; however; Ground Control passed the strip for Company Air Carrier YXYX. I loaded and departed Air Carrier XXXX using and receiving the call sign of Air Carrier YXYX in all read backs. Upwind; I noticed the aircraft execute a right turn vs. the left turn I was expecting. I asked Air Carrier YXYX what departure procedure he was on and was told the SFO8 (as opposed to the PORTE3 SID). Sensing I was given the wrong strip; I asked the flight crew to verify their call sign and destination; they informed me they were Air Carrier XXXX northbound not Air Carrier YXYX heading southwest bound. Both Ground Control and the Flight Crew should have noticed the discrepancy in call sign before reaching the runway. Listening to the read backs would've eventually tipped off the problem. Unfortunately; the aircraft responded to and read back the wrong call sign by the time they were on my Tower frequency.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.