A nine-year-old boy from Minnesota who reportedly ran away from home on Thursday made it on board a Delta Airlines flight bound for Las Vegas with no ticket or adult chaperone.
The news broke on Saturday, after the young boy managed to slip by the TSA, flight attendants and security personnel undetected.
"At this point, this is a Delta and TSA issue," Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport spokesperson Pat Hogan told local NBC station KARE-11. "This is a rare incident."
The child boarded Delta Flight 1651 successfully, despite traveling alone and not having a boarding pass or ticket. He wasn't questioned until the plane landed in Sin City.
"We are investigating the incident and cooperating with the agencies involved," Delta officials wrote in a statement to KARE-11.
According to Terry Trippler, an expert on air travel who works with The PlaneRules.com, it's incredible that the child made it through the first round of checks, let alone the second and third.
"He had to pass three levels of security," he said. "You have the TSA, the gate agents and the flight crew and a child comes through without even a seat assignment."
He also said that these kinds of stowaway incidents are infrequent, especially after September 11- an event that changed the way Americans fly today.
"All of this [security] since 9/11 has been to keep us safe," he told KARE-11. "And it has, but still we have gaping holes, and this is a perfect example of it."
"Obviously, the fact that the child's actions weren't detected until he was in flight is concerning," Hogan wrote in a statement to ABC 15. "I don't know of another instance in my 13 years at the airport in which anything similar has happened."
Delta Airline's policy on children flying alone is spelled out on its website - kids aged five to 14 can travel alone as part of the unaccompanied minor program. Delta employees are instructed to keep special watch on the children, escorting them on the aircraft, directing them to their seats, and, time permitting, taking them to meet the crew.
