Nine-year-old boy slips past security to board Las Vegas flight

The neon lights of Las Vegas beckoned a nine-year-old boy who sneaked onto a flight from Minneapolis undetected on Thursday, even though he didn't have a ticket.

Reuters reported the child boarded a Delta Air Lines flight at 11:15 a.m. after passing through security, but it wasn't until midway through the flight that staff started to wonder why he was there.

A crew member called the Las Vegas police who scooped up the boy when he landed and returned him home to Minneapolis, according to the news wire. The airline didn't say why the boy was headed to Sin City, but told media it was investigating how he managed to slip past security.

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Security footage showed he was also at the airport on Wednesday, where he took someone else's bag, ate at a restaurant, then abandoned the luggage and his bill by saying he had to go to the restroom.

CNN spoke to a flight security expert, Terry Trippler, who said the incident shows there are serious gaps in airport security.

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An 11-year-old British boy let his interest in planes fly him to Rome last year after he ran away from his mother and boarded a flight without a ticket, according to Sky News. He slid past security by blending in with another family.

In 2007, CNN reported the case of another 9-year-old boy who took a bus to the Seattle airport, gave a fake name and boarded a flight San Antonio, Texas, where he was finally caught as he tried to board another flight.

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