Runaway 7-year-old girl sneaks onto plane at Geneva airport

GENEVA – A Geneva airport spokesman says a runaway 7-year-old girl slipped through security checks and onto a plane without a boarding pass before being spotted by a crew member and handed over to police.

Bernard Stampfli said Wednesday that authorities were enhancing measures to ensure that children are accompanied by adults when passing through security checks.

In the incident Sunday, the girl, who was not identified, initially slipped away from her parents at Geneva’s main railway station and travelled by train to the airport. Stampfli said the girl repeatedly “took advantage of her small size” and employed a “ruse” to make it look like she was travelling with adults ahead or behind her.

After a first attempt failed, she tried again and succeeded — getting aboard an EasyJet flight to Corsica.