A review of British airport security was under way today after a 12-year-old boy boarded a flight without any passport or documentation.
The youngster, who had run away from a care home in Birkenhead, Merseyside, walked on to a plane at Gatwick Airport bound for Lisbon at 6 a.m. yesterday.
Despite airport security being on red-alert following the alleged terrorist plot to bomb planes, he managed to somehow get through airport security, get on the plane and was settling down with a drink and a snack when a member of the Monarch Airlines crew realised something was amiss.
The youngster did not have a passport, boarding pass or any other travel documents.
A "security alert" was then raised by airport safety officers and Sussex Police and the boy was escorted from the plane by two police officers.
The boy, believed to be from Penrith, Cumbria, has now been returned to his care home after being held by police and picked up by social workers.
He is understood to have got to Gatwick by train - unaccompanied and without a ticket, which he has apparently done on a number of occasions.
His mother, who cannot be named because her son is in care, said she was stunned he evaded the security checks.
She told the Daily Mail: "My worry is that if you have terrorists in these airports they could be looking round for someone who is vulnerable, and get them to take things on the planes for them.
"What happened is frightening, especially given the state of alert we are supposed to be on at the moment. I want to know how on Earth he was able to get through to the plane and take his seat."
BAA Security launched an investigation into the security breach at Gatwick.
Stewart McDonald, spokesman for BAA Gatwick, said: "The boy had passed through a full security screening process and we are confident there was no threat to passengers, staff or the aircraft at any time."