Child Boards Plane Without Ticket, or Parents

A child running away is a serious fear for many parents, but one seven-year-old girl in Switzerland took it to another level when she boarded a train and made it onto a plane at the Geneva airport.

According to Reuters.com, the child ran away from her parents near the city’s central railway station Sunday and boarded a train to Geneva Airport. She managed to make it through a security gate and told officials that she was the child of the adults around her.

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The unidentified child then slipped through the departure gate without being noticed and boarded the plane without a ticket. While she was actually caught the first time she attempted to board a plane by a flight crew, she eventually made it onboard before being spotted and handed over to airport police.

As soon as her parents lost sight of their daughter, they contacted the Swiss police, who used the airport’s security video system to track the seven-year-old’s progress through the airport, according to spokesman Bertrand Staempfli.

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While Staempfli did not reveal which airline was involved, he did say the incident took place in Geneva Airport’s French sector and the plane was scheduled to head to France.

Airport officials said it is investigating the incident and will tighten safety rules and boarding procedures as a result. Staempfli called the child boarding the plane a “highly regrettable incident.”

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