Intruder Managed to Slip Past Security, Board LAX Jet

LA Times ^ | Feb. 6, 2004 | Jennifer Oldham and Richard Winton

[FairOpinion]

Airport cameras captured it all: On a busy morning at Los Angeles International Airport last month, a convicted felon wearing a sweatshirt, sunglasses and gloves strolled unnoticed past two security checkpoints in Terminal 5 and walked onto a jumbo jet without a ticket.

Kareem Thomas, a 19-year-old Decatur, Ga., resident on probation for burglary, was discovered hiding in an airplane restroom by passengers and was apprehended by police before takeoff.

Thomas was unarmed and passed through the airport's metal detectors along with other travelers. But the ease with which he boarded the Jan. 15 Delta Airlines Flight 1972 to Atlanta — particularly at a time of heightened security at the state's No. 1 terrorist target — alarmed passengers on the flight and triggered investigations by two federal agencies and the airline.

Delta Airlines, which failed to check for the man's ticket or identification at two security checkpoints, said it was conducting its own investigation and might change some security procedures, although it offered no specifics.

[FairOpinion]

Well, so much for airline security.

And how many other incidents aren't even reported.

[mylife]

Yipes!! and his name is Kareem to boot!

[coloradan]

Maybe if all screeners were federal employees, this wouldn't happen. /s

[pttttt]

Good discussion of airline security as it relates to 9/11.

[aculeus]

Well, so much for airline security.

It is a joke.

[ErnBatavia]

Delta has it's own terminal at LAX, and as I recall - it being a very open area - it wouldn't be particularly hard to slide past "security" onto the jetway and into a plane.

[mewzilla]

Security by Fife.