If you're going to run away from home - fly Jet2
July 25, 2012 3:35 PM   Subscribe

Kerouac as an 11 year old? Many of us have ran away from home. Most make it to the first street corner before coming back home. Liam Corcoran of Manchester made it all the way to Rome. He managed to board a plane without a passport or boarding pass.
posted by 2manyusernames (23 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wythenshawe is not a wealthy area of Manchester. I wonder if it was his first time on a plane, and he just wanted to see what they were really like? (I have three teenage nephews and neither of them have ever been on a plane.)
posted by mippy at 3:40 PM on July 25, 2012


And he would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling adults.
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:41 PM on July 25, 2012 [11 favorites]


Someone said in a thread earlier this week -- and it's something that I've always believed in and followed -- that you can get away with almost anything if you just walk in like you belong somewhere. I imagine this would be even easier to do if you're a kid (who are, almost by definition, going to be lacking that confidence)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:42 PM on July 25, 2012 [6 favorites]


I doubt he could have made it through customs in Italy. There's not really a way to draft in behind another family in that situation.
posted by stopgap at 3:43 PM on July 25, 2012


I'm not sure - aren't Italy part of Schengen? When I flew to Estonia recently I didn't have to do anything other than collect my bag. Same applies if you take the Eurostar or Thalys train services - you get checked before you get on in the UK, but not when you change trains in Belgium or get off in Germany or the Netherlands.
posted by mippy at 3:52 PM on July 25, 2012


I just got back from Italy. Customs entering the country consisted of a bored guy in a uniform waiving me through.
posted by mmmbacon at 3:53 PM on July 25, 2012


I'm not sure - aren't Italy part of Schengen?

Italy is, but Manchester (UK) isn't. But maybe a kid could get past a bored guy in a uniform waving him through.
posted by stopgap at 4:03 PM on July 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


I just got back from Italy. Customs entering the country consisted of a bored guy in a uniform waiving me through.

Aren't they worried about the terrorists that want to destroy their pasta-eating, wine-sipping, film-making way of life???
posted by beaucoupkevin at 4:04 PM on July 25, 2012


Aren't they worried about the terrorists that want to destroy their pasta-eating, wine-sipping, film-making way of life???

They're Italians. They just bribe the terrorists to go attack someone else.
posted by Talez at 4:10 PM on July 25, 2012 [7 favorites]


Yeah, Wythenshawe's not the wealthiest area, but it's right near the airport. He's likely spent his whole life watching planes take off and land, but never been on one...until now. Good job lad!
posted by Jehan at 4:12 PM on July 25, 2012 [4 favorites]


Missing from the story, why did he want to run away? I want to know whether this was a runaway prompted by mum's refusal to buy him more bakugan (or whatever the youngsters are into these days harrumph), if he just thought it would be fun to go on a plane, or something more serious. Anyway, smart kid. Next time he will know not to tell anyone he's running away from home!
posted by Joh at 4:18 PM on July 25, 2012


At least he was young enough not to have to climb into a wheel-well.
posted by Twang at 4:51 PM on July 25, 2012


Rome Alone.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:26 PM on July 25, 2012 [15 favorites]


Someone said in a thread earlier this week -- and it's something that I've always believed in and followed -- that you can get away with almost anything if you just walk in like you belong somewhere.

It works really well. Looking the part (sometimes even barely) can get you through most security barriers - even when world leaders are involved.
posted by vidur at 5:56 PM on July 25, 2012 [2 favorites]


Many of us have run away from home. Come on. This is Metafilter, not reddit. Keep your end up.
posted by Decani at 8:21 PM on July 25, 2012


Molly Shannon tells a similar story on the WTF podcast about her and her sister flying to New York as very young teens. It was pretty funny and seemed totally plausible at the time.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:16 PM on July 25, 2012


Someone said in a thread earlier this week -- and it's something that I've always believed in and followed -- that you can get away with almost anything if you just walk in like you belong somewhere.

Try that in any TSA checkpoint anywhere in the US, ever. Let me know how it goes for you. I swear, the next time I refuse the full-body scanner that people are going through like sheep these days, and I get the pat-down, I am going to inform the TSA agent that if he puts his fingers inside my pants, as they now like to do, I'm putting mine inside of his.
posted by allkindsoftime at 12:15 AM on July 26, 2012


Listen to the documentary of two 10 year old boys who sneak from Dublin to New York in 1985.

Keith and Noel were friends. They had a knack for bunking off. One day they hopped on a Dart and skipped out to Dun Laoghaire for a laugh. Nothing there but boats and day trippers. So they snuck on a ferry and went to Holyhead.
They made if off the boat and bunked on to the train to London. Back home their dinners were getting cold.
They got talking to a fellow voyager who admired their skills and offered them a meal and a sofa for the night in the family home. Then he dropped them back to the London station. They saw a tube for Heathrow and figured they might fly home.
They hadn't any luggage to speak off. Heathrow was a pretty big place for a 10 year old, but no one bothered them, no one asked to see their tickets. Keith and Noel just walked on through the checkpoints telling anyone who needed to know that their mum was just behind them. That's all. Straight through Heathrow international airport with nothing but a few coins they'd nicked from the charity fountain. Dead easy.
The lads asked a passenger where his plane was going. He said New York. Keith looked at Noel. Noel looked at Keith. In for a penny. Surely someone would stop them. Someone did. They told them they were sitting in their seats. The lads got up and moved down to the back of the plane.
Then the doors closed, the plane moved away from its gate. A few minutes later Keith and Noel were taking off in to the London sky bound for JF Kennedy International airport in New York.


Full Transcript here, the bit where the kids are fooling around with the airport policeman's gun is hilarious.
posted by kev23f at 12:28 AM on July 26, 2012 [5 favorites]


They're Italians. They just bribe the terrorists to go attack someone else.

Boo. If you'd only included the words "greasy" and "Mafia" I could have gotten a bingo on my national stereotypes card...
posted by romakimmy at 2:06 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


I once walked through Geneva airport (flying in from Aberdeen) and there was no one in Customs or Immigration. I then met someone and took the train into France, again with no immigration. It felt deliciously secret-agent-esque. Schengen is great for that, but I'm fairly sure I shouldn't have been able to enter Switzerland without someone looking at my passport. Oh well.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:02 AM on July 26, 2012


I have an 11-year old and of course would never want her to do something like this. On the other hand, I'd love to know that she could be resourceful/clever enough to pull this off. Is there some sort of simulator available?
posted by mikepop at 6:42 AM on July 26, 2012 [1 favorite]


Boo. If you'd only included the words "greasy" and "Mafia" I could have gotten a bingo on my national stereotypes card...

I'm hold my breathe for B-"old lady yelling at the tram operator to go fuck himself back into his mothers cunt" and G-"holy shit, 30 Rock wasn't exaggerating about check-in at the airport"
posted by wcfields at 7:02 AM on July 26, 2012


I am reminded of the Molly Shannon airplane story. It's better told in the WTF interview, but here's a pretty succinct first-google-hit:

Q. What kind of stunts did you pull as a kid?
A. When I was 12 my friend and I tried to sneak onto a plane from my hometown of Cleveland to New York City! My dad encouraged us—he was a wild guy, big on jokes.

Q. You didn't actually succeed...
A. We did! At that time you could walk right up to the airport gate without a ticket. We told the stewardess we had to say goodbye to our sister on the plane. I guess we looked innocent in our ballet leotards with our hair in buns!

posted by Sys Rq at 9:02 AM on July 26, 2012


« Older Braces go on the next line.   |   Trouble in the tragic kingdom Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments