Non-motoring > Free flights Miscellaneous
Thread Author: sooty123 Replies: 20
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:20 
 Free flights - sooty123
uk.news.yahoo.com/boy-flies-rome-without-checks-062729984.html

Seems someone can get one.
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:38 
 Free flights - R.P.
Makes a mockery of queuing up for such a long time to be processed like so many sheep...
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:44 
 Free flights - DP
There was a chap from Manchester Airport on the radio this morning claiming this wasn't a security breach. Yeah, right. He got through passport control without a passport, and got on the plane without a ticket or boarding pass. In that context, the possibility that he could have got through security with explosives hidden in his underpants doesn't actually sound that far fetched.
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:45 
 Free flights - zookeeper
sounds like the makings of a film, what can we call it?... how about ' Rome alone'

il get my coat
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:50 
 Free flights - Bigtee
Where were his parents?
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:56 
 Free flights - Bromptonaut
>> Where were his parents?

He'd run away from home after a row - airport was nearby.
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New Thu 26 Jul 12 08:00 
 Free flights - MD
>> Where were his parents?
>>
Signing on.
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:55 
 Free flights - Bromptonaut
Seems he got through security search etc mingled with a couple of large family groups. He was scanned at that point. Probably got through the landside/airside i/d check same way.

Jet 2 has some serious questions though as he got through gate checks and should have caused the number on board v passes issued reconcile to fail.
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:57 
 Free flights - R.P.
DP I heard the apologist on R4 as well. Security staff and cabin crew didn't spot him but passengers raised concerns !!
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 16:00 
 Free flights - Bromptonaut
>> DP I heard the apologist on R4 as well. Security staff and cabin crew didn't
>> spot him but passengers raised concerns !!
>

Airport rep was a bit of a PR wide boy. I distinctly heard him say 'We'll willingly cough for the security but not the boarding checks'
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 15:59 
 Free flights - Iffy
Role reversal, it is usually the scuzzy single mother who leaves the child at home to visit the boyfriend in Turkey.

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New Wed 25 Jul 12 17:10 
 Free flights - FocalPoint
If the lad was small for his age (he's eleven and boys of that age come in all shapes and sizes) then I can easily understand how he was waved through some checks with the family or families he apparently tagged along with. (How do they feel, I wonder?)

Airlines take the issue of unaccompanied minors pretty seriously, so he must have made a good job of not looking like one of those.

And if it was just a quick head-count in the cabin the boy might not have been visible.

However, I don't defend it. He should have been picked up.

And yet... a little bit of the daredevil in me says, "What a story for the grandkids!"

Frankly, I wish I'd done it his age.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Wed 25 Jul 12 at 17:14
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 17:16 
 Free flights - R.P.
PM wondering where the kid is now - "Olympic stadium maybe ?"
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 18:02 
 Free flights - Zero
>> PM wondering where the kid is now - "Olympic stadium maybe ?"
>>
No chance, now G4s has got the elbow it's tied up tighter than a squaddies boot here
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 18:05 
 Free flights - R.P.
I'm sure it is.
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 17:33 
 Free flights - Bromptonaut

>> Frankly, I wish I'd done it his age.
>

My mother taught at a residential school for kids who these days would be classed as 'special needs'. The school fence bounded Leeds airport and it was not uncommon for absconders to be picked off the airfield by the fire service (this was before the IRA never mind AQ).


One did allegedly board a BKS Viscount & ask the cleaners on board if he could be dropped of at his home town in Pennines!
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New Wed 25 Jul 12 20:23 
 Free flights - Runfer D'Hills
When I was a kid we used to sneak into Edinburgh ( then Turnhouse ) airport grounds regularly. It was also an RAF station at the time. Peasy easy. There was a hole in the fence near the end of the main runway. In the summer the grass would be long enough for us to belly wriggle right to the end of the tarmac without being seen.

We'd then lie on our backs in the grass for hours waiting for planes to land or take off right over us. Lightnings were the best. Vulcans too. Vanguards and Comets were a regular sight as were the Chipmunk trainers. A real thrill was when the Red Arrows were in.

Only got spotted once and a military police jeep type thing came roaring towards us. However, we saw it in time,legged it, got back through the fence, jumped on to our bikes and headed in the general direction of Offski...

It was the 1960s of course.

:-)
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Wed 25 Jul 12 at 20:24
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New Thu 26 Jul 12 08:17 
 Free flights - henry k
>>Jet 2 has some serious questions though as he got through gate checks and should have caused the number on board v passes issued reconcile to fail.
>>
>>And if it was just a quick head-count in the cabin the boy might not have been visible.
>>
I cannot remember the last time i saw cabin crew doing a head count.
i.e souls = seats ( plus infants.)
I do not use bucket and spade / cheapo airlines so they might be different.
The final gate check, prior to walking down the tube, boarding passes = checked in passengers is what is relied on.
Airlines treat UMs ( Unaccompanied Minors ) very seriously and watch them very carefully.
I have known passengers get on the wrong flight but it is rare and usually detected prior to departure.
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New Fri 27 Jul 12 08:59 
 Free flights - Fursty Ferret
The issue here is not whether a headcount was done (every airline handles this differently) but the fact that the kid was hiding in the bog.

IIRC the cabin crew are required to check the toilets before take-off to make sure there isn't a fire (or, of course, someone hiding inside). On top of that, they're supposed to check the ID or boarding pass of everyone entering the aircraft and this wasn't done properly either. I suspect this is why Jet2 have suspended staff.
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New Fri 27 Jul 12 09:35 
 Free flights - Zero
stuff like that could loose them their CAA license.
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New Fri 27 Jul 12 10:51 
 Free flights - Dr Prunesqualler
I use Jet2 4 or 5 times a year for business (from Leeds, not Manchester) and I seem to remember they do carry out a headcount prior to departure. They ask all passengers to take their allocated seats before they do so. We are flyng with them next week from Newcastle on holiday: I can imagine they will have tightened up their procedures.

I wonder what sort of row the lad had from his parents when he was finally reunited with them.
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