He had help from Mr. Bean methinks.

Beats mooching around the local park whinging that he's bored.

A resourceful kid - he'll go far.

I'm sure it's been discussed before that there's no such thing as absolute security but the systems are there to act as a deterrent - a balance has to be struck between creating that deterrent and making it possible to fly at all.

What I noticed the last time out of Manch on a domestic (BA to LHR) was turning up at T3 with a boarding pass on my mobile, which was checked three times, just before the security checks to go airside, again at the gate on boarding and finally at the door of the aircraft. What was not checked at any stage was any form of ID confirming that it was me travelling and no one else using my boarding pass... to me this seemed a bit lax - what do you think?...

Pity none of the Rome ground staff could have kept him overnight and shown him around a little whilst he was there.
It's just a one-off and ain't a loophole for terrorists.

When I was a child, and ran off with the little girl around the corner, we didn't even make it out of town before her aunt caught us alighting (getting thrown off?) from a bus :)

Security
 

http://http://uk.news.yahoo.com/no-o...020418468.html

''No one queried' Rome flight boy' on Yahoo! News UK. A boy of 11 who flew to Rome by himself without a passport or boarding pass has ...

IT HAS
 

on several flora.

I think that young lad was lucky. I'm not being funny but if a cabin crew member said to me inflight we have an "extra" passenger on board with no ID and no boarding card i would not be in any sort of laughing mood. He would find himself restrained and i would be heading for the ground smart ish. And he certainly would not have been flying back with me. Hand him over to authorities and sort yourself out young man.

I've read the newspaper articles this morning and the mother had the nerve to pin it on the airport and airline. I was utterly utterly speechless, the fact the holes lined up that morning is unlucky. Especially for the staff who probably have mortgages, children and lives who may well loose their jobs as a result of this cretin's actions. To make it even more insulting he is in the press today hugging teddy bears and being made out to be some sort of hero. That bit of a kid epitomises everything that is wrong with our society.

An 11 year old leaves his mother at a supermarket and gets on a bus and there isn't a full scale hunt on? Did she even reporting him missing.

The mind boggles.

I think that with an 11 year old, restraints and leaving him abroad would drop you in it in no short order. Rather more trouble than no tea and no biccies.

It's a good job he never accessed the f/d and told the Captain he is a new f/o they seem to get younger these days.

Of course, silly me, because it would be my fault entirely that he is in the aircraft. Please put my mind at rest and tell me your joking? If you are not, you've got it massively wrong.

Now it would not be unreasonable to come to the conclusion that he has not gone through the appropriate checks prior to getting on the aircraft.
I would be immediately suspicious, who has he been in contact with and WHAT more importantly does he have on him? Here son put this package in your pocket and have this £100 and try and get on an aeroplane. Anyone will do!

Now I'm sure you are aware about the required travelled documentation. So why on earth would you take him home? The last time I looked, there was no waiver of travel documents for 11 year olds who'd taken it on themselves just jump on an aircraft.
Maybe a moral obligation. I doubt very much you'd be disciplined for "refusing" to break the legal requirement for carriage of the correct travel documentation.

Your post only ratifies my point. Kid does wrong, gets backed up! There is also something not not not right about his story. Sat in the toilet on board then came out and they had taken off, I don't think so.

ffs
 

Biggest problem with all this is i am due to depart MAN in the next few days and expect that the whole security farce at that airport will be even more in-your-face than ever.

Seriously though, what everyone seems to be overlooking is that this kid didn't wander onto the aircraft, he deliberately and wilfully snuck on. Yes that means someone didn't spot him, but no it doesn't mean that all children now have to be strip searched and have their body cavities probed by some ape on security. Or that somehow the earth is headed for annihilation, and the human race to extinction.

Its a non event that will once again take pecedence over logic and rational thinking and once again regulatory efforts will be made to counter darwin's thesis.

He just needs a swift kick up the arse (as do his parents no doubt) and we can all move on. Not that this will happen of course.

One question though: what was suspicious about his behaviour on the aircraft that got him busted mid-flight?

And please all stop whining about this being the result of low paid workers blah blah. This has NOTHING to do with how much anyone is being paid.

At least that well known aviation expert ,Chris Yates ,got to sit on the BBC breakfast programme with Susanna Read.

When he arrived in Rome he should have been met by a member of the Consular Section of the British Embassy who would have taken him back to the embassy, did the necessary checks and provide him with an emergency travel document to enable him to travel back to the UK. A ticket on Jet2 should have then been purchased and he would then be escorted by the consular staff back to the airport as a minor and put on a plane home. A bill for the services of the consular staff, which is available to see at all embassies overseas should have been presented to his mother - something in the region of several hundred pounds. Mother of course could recoup this from selling the story to the press.

... although not meant in the same context - certainly adds weight to the statement from Stanley Baldwyn in the 30's -

"The Bomber will always get through"

...

Out of interest, who carries the can for this type of event? Would the aircraft commander be responsible for carrying a passenger 'illegally'? Would s/he be ultimately responsible for operating a flight with an inaccurate passenger manifest (even if the commander does not personally check who's on board)? Nothing 'too bad' happened here, but obviously it could have been worse if said undeclared passenger had other intentions.

Or is the blame laid solely at the feet of the airport security folk for not doing their checks properly?

Can any flight crew shed any light on this? I'm genuinely intrigued.

Maybe the newspaper headlines should have read: 'Holiday Jet Shock Horror - airline industry unable to crush eleven year old's spirit of adventure!'

Thank God they didn't let the kid get to the Vatican City and in the hands of priests :}

Wingspan,

I can see the problems. But having got there, he's to be got through immigration, undocumented. That's likely to delay your turnround, if only waiting for consular support. Now if they were like Sam and said 'Tha brought 'im 'ere, tha tek him back' - or if immigration flatly refused to let him stay, what then?

All in all, in terms of minimising delay, bringing him back was probably the quickest and least hassle remedy, although I agree, very unsatisfactory.

Leaving him there would have proved embarassing, to say the least, for the airline, and they're embarassed enough. Might even have had legal implications in the UK, too.

If an airline carries a passenger who is improperly documented or has no travel document, immigration authorities can insist that the offending airline take the passenger back on the same aircraft, even if it means offloading another passenger. If it happened in the UK, the airline would also be charged detention costs until the person was removed. This puts the onus on airlines to ensure that those they carry are properly documented. As a matter of interest, airlines are charged £2000 for every undocumented person arriving in the UK. I would not be surprised if the Italians had such a charge. It puts a different slant on things when you consider the possible costs this "jaunt" could have cost the airline.

Would Jet2 be fined if the boy didn't make it as far as Italy? For example, he stayed on board the UK Registered aircraft as it was on a turn around with the same crew. He never technically set foot on Italian soil.