A British family’s holiday ended in chaos after their teenage son boarded the wrong flight and ended up in Italy instead of returning home to the UK. The 15-year-old became separated from his parents at Menorca Airport on Tuesday morning while the family were preparing to board their scheduled TUI flight to London Stansted.
The boy’s disappearance triggered a frantic search and a missing child alert at the airport. But police later discovered the teenager had somehow managed to pass through security and board an easyJet flight bound for Milan Malpensa, despite not having a valid ticket for the flight. Authorities believe the boy may have slipped past passport and ticket checks after staff left their post when boarding for the Milan flight had closed. An airport source suggested he might have wandered through an unattended gate area in the confusion of a busy departure morning.
Officers used CCTV to trace the teenager’s movements, and by the time he was located, he was already airborne. The alarm was stood down once it was confirmed he was safely on board and accompanied by easyJet staff.
The TUI flight to London, scheduled to depart at 10.25am, was delayed by 45 minutes due to the incident. The easyJet flight to Milan had taken off around 9.25am.
Spanish police later confirmed the boy, who according to local reports may have autism, was not harmed and arrangements were made for his mother to fly to Milan and collect him.
The pair are expected to return to the UK together on a later flight.
A spokesperson for the Policía Nacional in the Balearic Islands said: “Officers checked cameras in the departures area and saw the teenager had managed to get onto a flight to Milan.The airport had already activated its missing child alert system, which was later deactivated once the boy was confirmed to be on the aircraft.”
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.”
It is not clear whether the teen interacted with airline staff or how his presence on board went unnoticed until after take-off.
The family, who have not been identified, were reportedly travelling with other children, though this has not been officially confirmed.