A "very street smart" nine-year-old boy managed to pass through a security checkpoint at a Minnesota airport and hop on a flight to Las Vegas without a boarding pass, authorities said.
The boy arrived alone at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday morning, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan told ABC News.
He was screened by TSA officials and then headed to an airport concourse, where he boarded an 11:15 a.m. flight on Delta to Sin City.
The flight crew became suspicious of the nine-year-old's travel circumstances and called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, who took the boy into custody upon landing, Hogan said. He was then transferred into the care of child protective services.
"The fact that the child's actions weren't detected until he was in flight is concerning," he said. "More than 33 million 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.
"Fortunately, the flight crew took appropriate actions to ensure the child's safety, so the story does have a good ending," 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.," he said. "If it hadn't been for alert airline employees on our end, he probably never would have been discovered."
Cassell did not know if the boy had been reunited with his family, but said that the boy's mother, child protective services and Delta Airlines were working to develop a plan to bring him home after the incident occurred.
A spokesman for Delta Airlines said the incident was under investigation, but would not elaborate on the details of the case.
(Related story)
9-Year-Old Stowaway to Las Vegas Has Been in Trouble Before
While airport and airline officials continue to gather information in the mystery of how a 9-year-old boy successfully evaded security and stowed away on a Minneapolis-to-Las Vegas Delta flight last week, new details about the young passenger are emerging.
The boy – who, because of his age, is not being identified by name – is no stranger to trouble, reports Minneapolis radio station KFGO AM, which says he's broken into a waterpark without buying a ticket.
Last week, says the station, he was arrested for driving on I-35 in a stolen car. {C}
The station also says his mother works at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, and that Minnesota's Hennepin County child protection workers reportedly have investigated the boy's family four times since December 2012.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the boy went to the airport via light rail on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
On Wednesday, said the paper, he removed a bag off the luggage carousel, went through TSA security and had lunch at a restaurant in the area that leads to the concourses. He told restaurant staff that he needed a restroom, which required his going into one of the concourses.
Leaving the bag and his lunch bill behind, he never returned to the restaurant, said Pat Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. (The bag was eventually returned to its rightful owner, with its contents untouched.)
Officials are still not saying how he slipped past security screeners and gate agents to board the flight, which was not full, reports the Associated Press. The flight crew later became suspicious and handed him over to authorities in Las Vegas.
The Transportation Security Administration says he was screened along with other passengers to ensure that he was not a threat.
If that flight was full he might have made it. Ol' bad ass Kevin McCallister ass nikka 
The boy arrived alone at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Thursday morning, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan told ABC News.
He was screened by TSA officials and then headed to an airport concourse, where he boarded an 11:15 a.m. flight on Delta to Sin City.
The flight crew became suspicious of the nine-year-old's travel circumstances and called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, who took the boy into custody upon landing, Hogan said. He was then transferred into the care of child protective services.
"The fact that the child's actions weren't detected until he was in flight is concerning," he said. "More than 33 million 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.
"Fortunately, the flight crew took appropriate actions to ensure the child's safety, so the story does have a good ending," 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.," he said. "If it hadn't been for alert airline employees on our end, he probably never would have been discovered."
Cassell did not know if the boy had been reunited with his family, but said that the boy's mother, child protective services and Delta Airlines were working to develop a plan to bring him home after the incident occurred.
A spokesman for Delta Airlines said the incident was under investigation, but would not elaborate on the details of the case.
(Related story)
9-Year-Old Stowaway to Las Vegas Has Been in Trouble Before
While airport and airline officials continue to gather information in the mystery of how a 9-year-old boy successfully evaded security and stowed away on a Minneapolis-to-Las Vegas Delta flight last week, new details about the young passenger are emerging.
The boy – who, because of his age, is not being identified by name – is no stranger to trouble, reports Minneapolis radio station KFGO AM, which says he's broken into a waterpark without buying a ticket.
Last week, says the station, he was arrested for driving on I-35 in a stolen car. {C}
The station also says his mother works at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, and that Minnesota's Hennepin County child protection workers reportedly have investigated the boy's family four times since December 2012.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the boy went to the airport via light rail on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
On Wednesday, said the paper, he removed a bag off the luggage carousel, went through TSA security and had lunch at a restaurant in the area that leads to the concourses. He told restaurant staff that he needed a restroom, which required his going into one of the concourses.
Leaving the bag and his lunch bill behind, he never returned to the restaurant, said Pat Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. (The bag was eventually returned to its rightful owner, with its contents untouched.)
Officials are still not saying how he slipped past security screeners and gate agents to board the flight, which was not full, reports the Associated Press. The flight crew later became suspicious and handed him over to authorities in Las Vegas.
The Transportation Security Administration says he was screened along with other passengers to ensure that he was not a threat.
If that flight was full he might have made it. Ol' bad ass Kevin McCallister ass nikka 
first thing that came to my mind
