A nine-year-old boy got through airport
security and onto a plane without a ticket,
it emerged last night.
Security officials at Minneapolis-St Paul
International Airport screened the boy,
whose exploits echo the Leonardo DiCaprio
film Catch Me If You Can, at the airport
shortly after 10.30am on Thursday.
But the unidentified child from
Minneapolis, Minnesota, slipped through a
security checkpoint and then boarded Delta
Air Lines Flight 1651 - which left for Las
Vegas, Nevada, at 11.15am.
Leaving: A 9-year-old runaway passed
through this security checkpoint at
Minneapolis airport without a ticket
The flight crew became suspicious and
contacted Las Vegas police, who met the
boy upon landing and gave him to child
protection services, a Metropolitan Airports
Commission spokesman said.
A security video also showed the boy at the
airport terminal on Wednesday, the day
before his trip, officials said.
He took a bag from the carousel that did
not belong to him and ordered lunch at a
restaurant outside of the security
checkpoints, MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan
said.He ate and then told the server he had to
use the bathroom, left the bag and never
returned to pay.
The owner of the bag was identified and
the bag was returned to him, Mr Hogan
said. At this point, this is a Delta and
[Transport Security Administration] issue,'
he added. 'This is a rare incident.'
In a statement to Minneapolis TV station
KARE-11 , Delta officials said: 'We are
investigating the incident and cooperating
with the agencies involved.'
Leaving: The runaway boy flew to Las
Vegas from Minneapolis-St Paul
International Airport on a Delta plane
like this one, pictured. It was only
discovered mid-air that he had no ticket
KARE-11 reported that authorities believe
the nine-year-old boy is a runaway from
the Twin Cities.
'He had to pass three levels of security,'
said Terry Trippler, an air travel expert with
ThePlaneRules.com , to the TV station.
'You have the TSA, the gate agents, and the
flight crew and a child comes through
without even a seat assignment.'
Mr Tippler said that security introduced
after 9/11 obviously still has major flaws.
'While we are safer in the air, this proves
there are still gaping holes,' he added.
According to a surveillance video, at
10.37am, the unaccompanied boy arrived at
the airport on a southbound light-rail car,
the New York Daily News reported.
The boy was then screened at Terminal 1
and granted access to its nine airlines
despite appearing to have never produced
a required ticket.
Destination: Las Vegas McCarran
International Airport, with the 'Strip' in
the background. The nine-year-old flew
here from Minneapolis without a ticket
In an apparently well-thought out plan that
has similarities to the Steve Spielberg-
directed movie, at one point the boy is
believed to have blended in with another
family traveling through the airport to
evade detection.
The boy's parents told Minneapolis Police
they 'hadn’t seen much of him today' when
officers arrived at the missing child's
residence on Thursday after he was
reported having run away, according to
CBS Minneapolis .
Catch Me If You Can was based on the real-
life exploits of Frank Abagnale, a teenage
con-artist who, among many other scams,
traveled the world posing as a Pan Am
pilot.
'The fact that the child's actions weren't
detected until he was in flight is
concerning,' said Mr Hogan, who added
that producing identification for children is
not a requirement of travel.
'More than 33million people travel through
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
every year and I don't know of another
instance in my 13 years at the airport in
which anything similar has happened.
[image_2Comparison: Leonardo DiCaprio (centre)
starred in Catch Me If You Can, a film
based on the true story of Frank
Abagnale, who posed as a Pan Am pilot.
The movie echoes the Minneapolis
runaway who flew to Las Vegas
'Fortunately, the flight crew took
appropriate actions to ensure the child's
safety, so the story does have a good
ending,' Mr Hogan said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police spokesman
Bill Cassell told ABC News the boy was
'more worldly than most nine-year-old
kids.'
'He was able to get onto an airline where
he didn't have a ticket and made it five
states across the U.S.,' Mr Cassell said. 'If it
hadn't been for alert airline employees on
our end, he probably never would have
been discovered.'
The station reported that Las Vegas police,
Hennepin County authorities and the boy's
parents were working together.
A statement on the TSA's website said that
the federal funding shutdown meant no
information on the incident would be
immediately available online.
Source :daily mail
security and onto a plane without a ticket,
it emerged last night.
Security officials at Minneapolis-St Paul
International Airport screened the boy,
whose exploits echo the Leonardo DiCaprio
film Catch Me If You Can, at the airport
shortly after 10.30am on Thursday.
But the unidentified child from
Minneapolis, Minnesota, slipped through a
security checkpoint and then boarded Delta
Air Lines Flight 1651 - which left for Las
Vegas, Nevada, at 11.15am.
Leaving: A 9-year-old runaway passed
through this security checkpoint at
Minneapolis airport without a ticket
The flight crew became suspicious and
contacted Las Vegas police, who met the
boy upon landing and gave him to child
protection services, a Metropolitan Airports
Commission spokesman said.
A security video also showed the boy at the
airport terminal on Wednesday, the day
before his trip, officials said.
He took a bag from the carousel that did
not belong to him and ordered lunch at a
restaurant outside of the security
checkpoints, MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan
said.He ate and then told the server he had to
use the bathroom, left the bag and never
returned to pay.
The owner of the bag was identified and
the bag was returned to him, Mr Hogan
said. At this point, this is a Delta and
[Transport Security Administration] issue,'
he added. 'This is a rare incident.'
In a statement to Minneapolis TV station
KARE-11 , Delta officials said: 'We are
investigating the incident and cooperating
with the agencies involved.'
Leaving: The runaway boy flew to Las
Vegas from Minneapolis-St Paul
International Airport on a Delta plane
like this one, pictured. It was only
discovered mid-air that he had no ticket
KARE-11 reported that authorities believe
the nine-year-old boy is a runaway from
the Twin Cities.
'He had to pass three levels of security,'
said Terry Trippler, an air travel expert with
ThePlaneRules.com , to the TV station.
'You have the TSA, the gate agents, and the
flight crew and a child comes through
without even a seat assignment.'
Mr Tippler said that security introduced
after 9/11 obviously still has major flaws.
'While we are safer in the air, this proves
there are still gaping holes,' he added.
According to a surveillance video, at
10.37am, the unaccompanied boy arrived at
the airport on a southbound light-rail car,
the New York Daily News reported.
The boy was then screened at Terminal 1
and granted access to its nine airlines
despite appearing to have never produced
a required ticket.
Destination: Las Vegas McCarran
International Airport, with the 'Strip' in
the background. The nine-year-old flew
here from Minneapolis without a ticket
In an apparently well-thought out plan that
has similarities to the Steve Spielberg-
directed movie, at one point the boy is
believed to have blended in with another
family traveling through the airport to
evade detection.
The boy's parents told Minneapolis Police
they 'hadn’t seen much of him today' when
officers arrived at the missing child's
residence on Thursday after he was
reported having run away, according to
CBS Minneapolis .
Catch Me If You Can was based on the real-
life exploits of Frank Abagnale, a teenage
con-artist who, among many other scams,
traveled the world posing as a Pan Am
pilot.
'The fact that the child's actions weren't
detected until he was in flight is
concerning,' said Mr Hogan, who added
that producing identification for children is
not a requirement of travel.
'More than 33million people travel through
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
every year and I don't know of another
instance in my 13 years at the airport in
which anything similar has happened.
[image_2Comparison: Leonardo DiCaprio (centre)
starred in Catch Me If You Can, a film
based on the true story of Frank
Abagnale, who posed as a Pan Am pilot.
The movie echoes the Minneapolis
runaway who flew to Las Vegas
'Fortunately, the flight crew took
appropriate actions to ensure the child's
safety, so the story does have a good
ending,' Mr Hogan said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police spokesman
Bill Cassell told ABC News the boy was
'more worldly than most nine-year-old
kids.'
'He was able to get onto an airline where
he didn't have a ticket and made it five
states across the U.S.,' Mr Cassell said. 'If it
hadn't been for alert airline employees on
our end, he probably never would have
been discovered.'
The station reported that Las Vegas police,
Hennepin County authorities and the boy's
parents were working together.
A statement on the TSA's website said that
the federal funding shutdown meant no
information on the incident would be
immediately available online.
Source :daily mail
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