Boy, 11, Flies to Rome Without ID or Passport: 'Easier Than Doing my Homework'
Liam Corcoran, 11, managed to fly from Manchester to Rome without providing a ticket, ID, or passport. "Getting on the plane was easier than doing my homework," the boy told reporters. "I didn't have anything on me and no one asked me for anything."
The ordeal has caused a great deal of embarrassment for Jet2.com airline and security agents. Somehow Liam managed to get through security without any identification and promptly board the flight. Of course, Liam has said that going to Rome was purely accidental, and that he was simply looking for a bathroom.
"I went to the toilet and sat there, but I couldn't get out. Then 'whoosh,' we were going up in the sky," Liam told The Sun. And passengers described the boy as calm and pleasant to be around.
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"He just sat there chatting away about how he'd been trying to run away from home," passenger Sarah Swayne told the Manchester Evening News. "He seemed quite innocent, really, and I don't think it had sunk in how serious the situation was."
Liam managed to blend in with other children boarding the plane, which would account for his not needing an ID, and Russell Craig, a spokesman for Manchester Airport said the boy exuded confidence that betrayed what he was actually doing.
"The boy arrived at security at a time when it was extra busy. There were a lot of families traveling," Craig explained. "It's not technically a breach of security" because Liam did not go through the traditional security scan. "The boy was no threat to the aircraft."
Liam slipped through five security checkpoints, which Transport Secretary Justine Greening says is an "unusual and serious breach. We are investigating the Manchester Airport and, indeed the airline, to find out exactly what happened," according to the BBC.
Making the situation even more serious is the influx of travelers due to the Olympics. London has already had several issues surrounding security for the summer Games, and although the latest incident has nothing directly to do with the Olympic Games security, the fact that an 11-year-old made it through five security checkpoints raises further concerns.
