Bored Kids Fly Away, Without Parents —or IDs

Teens, little brother have no trouble boarding Southwest flight
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2010 6:23 PM CDT
Bored Kids Fly Away, Without Parents —or IDs
Three Florida youths flew Southwest Airlines from Jacksonville to Nashville this week without telling their parents first.   (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Southwest Airlines has some explaining to do after flying a 15-year-old girl, her 11-year-old brother, and her 13-year-old friend from Jacksonville to Nashville—unbeknownst to the kids' parents. The TSA may be in for some questioning, too, because the footloose trio boarded their flight without showing identification. "Everybody else had IDs," Bobby Nolan III, 13, tells First Coast News. "But we didn't."

"I just wanted to fly," said Bridget Brown, 15, who bankrolled the caper with babysitting earnings. "I had the money." They also wanted to visit Dollywood, but it's 200 miles from Nashville, ABC reports. When they realized their error, the kids called home and fessed up. "He said, 'For real, I'm in Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm ready to come home,'" recalls Bobby's mom. Southwest says the trio didn't violate its policies, because 11-year-olds are considered unaccompanied minors only if they're not with someone 12 or older.
(More Southwest Airlines stories.)

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