Man boards plane without ticket, boarding pass or passport in ‘major security breach’

It's been described as a 'significant lapse in security'

The unnamed traveller managed to make his way onto the 7.20am British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Oslo on Saturday.

He managed to do so by tailgating other passengers and evading checks at gates.

Experts in aviation have described the incident as a “significant lapse in security”.

A passenger onboard the flight, Mike La Corte, told the Telegraph that the interloper was a white man who looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s.

Airport sources say the man was arrested, but that he had undergone a “full security screening” and passed through security easily, meaning he was carrying no banned items.

He is said to have passed through the boarding gate by posing with a family who all had their boarding passes and passports checked.

The man was discovered to not have a ticket or passport after he repeatedly took the seats of other passengers.

Philip Baum of Coventry University said it was a “significant lapse in security and in the verification of each passenger and their right to be boarding an aircraft.”

“There are measures on board the aircraft that obviously prevent the person reaching the flight deck. But every airline should be able to account 100 per cent for every passenger and every person that is on board that aircraft.”