General

Paperless runaway slips mother and security to fly to Rome

Although Liam Corcoran had no passport, boarding pass, or cash, the 11-year-old runaway had the wherewithal to slip his mother and five security checks before landing on flight LS791 to Rome from Manchester Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The resourceful preteen escaped his mother at a shopping mall and found his way to the airport, the Manchester Evening News reports.

The newspaper talked to sources who said the stowaway did not appeared distressed at any point during his travel:

“It’s a pretty extraordinary set of circumstances. He appears to have been milling about with families and been quite smart about it. Several checks should have happened but never did. No-one said ‘where’s your boarding card?’ It was quite an adventure for him.”

The cabin crew on the Jet2.com flight was alerted to the stowaway midflight. (The giveaway? Seems he could not resist boasting of his feat to fellow travellers.) Corcoran was on the next flight back to Manchester where he was reunited with his mother.

Five members of the airline have been suspended, the Guardian reports. The airport and the airline are now working to explain the failure of security checks and airline procedures.

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