Youngsters fly off on their own

Jacksonville:  Bored on a hot summer day, three Florida youngsters were just sitting around when one sent a text message to another with an adventurous idea.

"Hey do you want to go 2 Tennessee today," the message read.

"Sure," the other responded.

Not even old enough to get a driver's licence, they took a taxi to the airport on Tuesday, bought tickets with baby-sitting money and — unbeknownst to their parents, the three (ages 15, 13 and 11) — boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Jacksonville to Nashville, according to a TV news account of the incident.

Nobody asked a question. Nobody asked for identification. So when they landed in Nashville with just $40 (Dh147) left and their destination, Dollywood, still hundreds of miles away, they finally called home. The jig was up.

"I just wanted to fly," 15-year-old Bridget Brown, told WJXX-TV in Jacksonville. "I had the money."

Now their parents are wondering how the trip was possible.

Southwest Airlines said in a statement that the company's policy on minors is similar to other carriers in that it covers children ages 5 through 11 travelling alone, and that the 11-year-old in this case was accompanied by two older companions. The Transportation Security Administration does not require anyone under age 18 to show identification, but all bags are still screened.