A 9-year-old gained unlawful entry to a water park, stole a car, evaded security, boarded a plane and caught a flight to Las Vegas without a ticket, according to reports.
The apparent ease with which the boy, who is from Minneapolis, was able to get through security and casually stroll onto a plane has raised some rather pertinent questions about airport and airline security.
The boy was able to get through security at the airport last week without a boarding pass and get on a Delta Air Lines flight to Las Vegas. His status was not discovered by flight crew until the airplane was in flight, authorities say.
He has apparently been investigated several times by county child protection workers, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper.
Las Vegas police took the boy into custody when the airplane landed and the incident is under review by the Transportation Security Administration and Delta.
The boy rode alone to the airport on the light rail system that runs from downtown, took a bag from a luggage carousel and went to an airport restaurant where he ate and then left the bag and an unpaid check, said Patrick Hogan, a spokesman from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, according to Reuters.
He was seen on surveillance video chatting with a Delta gate agent, then walking down the jetway when the agent was distracted, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper reported.
Hogan said the boy would not face charges on the incidents because of his age.
The boy – who, because of his age, is not being identified by name – is no stranger to trouble, radio station KFGO AM said, claiming the boy was perviously arrested for driving on I-35 in a stolen car.
The boy also reportedly had a history of taking the light rail without his parents to a suburb near the airport, where he would blend in with a large family to get into a water park.
