A nine-year-old boy got through security and onto a plane without a ticket, an airport spokesman has revealed.
The as-yet unnamed boy from Minneapolis slipped through a security checkpoint on Thursday and then boarded a Delta Flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul for Las Vegas.
Flight crew became suspicious and contacted Las Vegas police, who met the crew on landing and transferred the boy to child protection services, Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Patrick Hogan said.
A security video shows the boy at the airport terminal on Wednesday, the day before he took his ticketless trip to Vegas.
He took a bag from the carousel that did not belong to him and ordered lunch at a restaurant outside of the security checkpoints, Hogan said.
He ate and then said he had to use the toilet, left the bag and never returned to pay.
In a statement sent to Minneapolis television station KARE-11, Delta officials said: ‘We are investigating the incident and cooperating with the agencies involved."
An air travel expert said the boy had to pass three levels of security – America’s airport security body – the TSA, the gate agents and the flight crew – without even having a seat assignment.
