Back in October, we wrote about a woman who had managed to get past the TSA Security checkpoint at Orlando Int’l Airport (MCO) and board a Delta plane, despite having no I.D. and no plane ticket. Well, it’s probably just a coincidence but we now have another “sneak past the TSA officers” story out of MCO, this time involving a 15-year-old girl.
Orlando Police Department report that a 15-year-old girl got through security at MCO on Friday afternoon without a proper boarding pass. Exactly how that happened and how she was discovered are both something of a mystery.
According to the OPD report, the girl told officers she had found a drink coupon on the floor and used it to get through the TSA security checkpoint. Meanwhile, the TSA’s statement gave a different story and said that she presented a valid and current boarding pass. As per Click Orlando, officials with the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority confirmed that the teen presented a boarding pass to TSA, while as per WESH News, the police report didn’t mention that the girl had a boarding pass.
Okaaaaaaay?
Surveillance video shows the teen going through the TSA Pre-Check lane about 1:30pm that day, but not what kind of media she was holding.
Either way, because you don’t have to show I.D. if you’re under 18, she was able to get through the checkpoint without issue.
I know, I know…lots more questions than answers. If she had a boarding pass, why wasn’t it on the OPD report? If she didn’t have one, how did she get through security?
Anyway, she then made it to the Southwest Airlines gates and gave a Southwest employee a drink coupon with someone else’s name on it. While searching for the name on the coupon in Southwest’s records, it was discovered that the person it belonged to had already boarded a flight earlier that day. This prompted the employee to contact authorities.
OPD discovered that the 15-year-old, who said she, “just wanted to fly on an airplane” had taken several buses to get to the airport and had been missing from her home since the previous day. Since she was found safe and in good condition, she was later reunited with her family.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Isn’t Orlando one the trial airports allowing non- ticketed public access to gates ? Hmmm
A handful of airports have participated in those trials. To date, Orlando has not been one of them.