Boy, 9, sneaks onto flight to Las Vegas

Unlikeliest Vegas trip ever. A 9-year-old Minneapolis boy slipped through airport security and onto a Delta Air Lines flight to Las Vegas last week, officials said Sunday. He was alone and had no ticket or boarding pass.

The boy’s venture Thursday seemed to be his second attempt in two days to bluff his way through the airport.

A day earlier, he took the light rail to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, stole a stranger’s bag off a baggage carousel, ordered a meal at a pre-security airport restaurant and left without paying, airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said. The next day, the boy got bolder. Arriving on the light rail again, he went to the security checkpoint — which doesn’t require photo IDs from children — and passed through the screening process while pretending to be part of a family, Hogan said.

Once at the gate, the boy chatted up the airline boarding employee until the worker was distracted by a passenger, at which point the boy slipped onto the plane, Hogan said.

Flight attendants caught on to the boy’s ruse after realizing he didn’t appear to be with an adult and wasn’t on a manifest of unattended minors, Hogan said.

They notified police in Las Vegas, who took the boy into custody when the plane landed.

The Transportation Security Administration said the boy was not dangerous.

“The child was screened along with all other passengers to ensure that he was not a threat to the aircraft,” the TSA said in a statement, adding that officials were deciding whether to adjust security protocols.

The boy was expected to be returned to Minnesota.