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Runaway boards plane without ticket

MINNEAPOLIS — A 9-year-old runaway went through security and boarded a plane at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport with no ticket, an airport spokesman said Sunday.

Security officials screened the boy at the airport shortly after 10:30 a.m. Thursday after he arrived via light rail, Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Patrick Hogan said. The boy then boarded a Delta flight that left for Las Vegas at 11:15 a.m.

The flight was not full, Hogan said, and the flight crew became suspicious because the boy was not on their list of unattended minors. The crew contacted Las Vegas police, who met them upon landing and transferred the boy to child protection services.

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''It's hard to piece anything together from his stories why he got on the flight and went to Las Vegas,'' Hogan said.

Minneapolis police Sergeant Bill Palmer said officers talked to the family after Las Vegas police contacted them. A family member told police the boy ran away and was last seen Thursday. The boy had been at the airport on Wednesday as well, Hogan said. Video shows him grabbing a bag from the carousel and ordering lunch at a restaurant.

The boy was expected to return to the Twin Cities, but Hogan didn't know Sunday whether that had happened.

Associated Press