We have to wonder how secure our airport security is if a nine year old kid can bypass it. Nine year old Semaj Booker ran away from home last week, the News-Tribune reports, hopping a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle to Phoenix, then a flight to San Antonio, where he was taken into custody.
The night before he fled on Southwest, he stole a car and led the police on a hi-speed chase. After they apprehended him, he was turned away by a juvenile detention facility and child protection services, and was finally taken home.
The TSA and Southwest are working to figure out the details. The boy had a boarding pass, which is necessary to board…and Southwest admits it issued a boarding pass after he gave information matching a reservation and told employees his mother was already in the boarding area. He was stopped in San Antonio when he tried to board a Dallas-bound flight. The boy appeared to have found a loophole, one that does not require children under 16 to have identification when boarding an aircraft, so security never asked him for one.
They are unsure of why how he got a passenger’s name in Seattle, but when he couldn’t produce information matching one in San Antonio, nor contact information for an adult…he was sent to a detention facility.
