A British teenager separated from his family at a busy Spanish airport on Monday boarded a flight to Italy instead of his return flight to London.
The 15-year-old was supposed to fly with Tui from Menorca to Stansted but disappeared in the island’s Mahon airport.
The boy’s parents raised the alarm and when police reviewed CCTV footage from the airport’s departures area they discovered that the boy had managed to board a flight to Milan Malpensa without a ticket.
A national police spokesperson in Mallorca said: “Officers checked cameras in the departures area and saw the teenager had managed to get on to a flight to Milan. The airport had already activated its missing child alert system but it was deactivated after it was confirmed the lad was on his way to Italy.”
The boy’s mother was reported to have been reunited with him on Monday after catching a flight to Italy.
During the flight, airline staff noticed that a passenger without a ticket was onboard, according to reports. EasyJet said the passenger was met by its staff and local authorities in Milan and it arranged for a family member to meet him. The family have not been identified.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are investigating with the airport and our ground handling provider at Mahon how a young passenger was able to travel unaccompanied on the wrong flight to Milan this morning.
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“The passenger was met by our team and the local authorities in Milan and we have provided travel arrangements for a family member to meet them that day. We remain in touch with the family to offer our support.”
