With all the security at airports nowadays, it would seem almost impossible for anyone to get on a plane without being scanned, patted down and searched. In San Francisco, a man was able to sneak onto a flight, without even having a ticket on Tuesday. The man was a parolee who was just released from jail the night before.
The plane was headed for Los Angeles, but Marc Rory Duncan, 38, didn't get to go anywhere except back to jail after he entered and sat down on United Airlines flight 6323 at San Diego's Lindbergh Field.
Duncan sneakily entered the tarmac through an unlocked emergency door in the airport's commuter terminal, setting off an alarm. The TSA claims that this alarm goes off often because confused passengers open it.
A witness told NBC San Diego that Duncan handed his duffel bag to a flight attendant, saying he urgently needed to use the bathroom. He then sat down along with the 27 other passengers, blending in with the others.
Flight attendants realized that something was off after they did a head count and realized that there were too many passengers. They spotted Duncan looking disheveled and suspicious.
Police with K-9 units soon entered the plane and found Duncan. Duncan, who had just been released from jail the day before on theft charges, was escorted off peacefully and brought back to jail. Duncan was being held on suspicion of violating his parole and two misdemeanor offenses for breaching security. He will be arraigned on Thursday.
All of the other passengers were asked to get off the plane so that they could go through security for a second time and so the dogs could sniff through their bags and the plane for explosives. The remaining passengers were then able to get back on board and take off.
Passenger Nicholas Blasgen expressed his concerns over the issue to NBC San Diego. He said, "How could this happen? In this day and age when I have to take my shoes off to get on a plane, this guy bypasses everything. What if he had a bomb?"
San Diego Harbor Police and the Transportation Security Administration are investigating the issue.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
