Last year there was a flurry of media coverage of young Semaj Booker’s attempt to run away from home. Lots of kids run away from home but Mr. Booker was a special case since he managed to get himself through the TSA screening at SeaTac and onto a Southwest Airlines flight to Texas. There was much wringing of hands and pointing of fingers in response to the then-nine-year old’s ability to get himself through the security checkpoint and onto the plane without a ticket and everyone involved insisted that it was a freak incident and couldn’t possibly happen again.

Well, it has. Semaj Booker is 10 now and just got caught “a short stroll away from” another SWA flight, says the P-I in a well-written story [P-I] that neatly details his trip last year and his attempted trip this week. It is worth noting that the little boy made it through the security checkpoint and was stopped by the ticket agent. (Like Semaj Booker, I really like flying Southwest, too, so I’m glad to see that they, at least, learned from the experience.) The Port of Seattle spokesman emphasized that the boy was actually screened but insists that an unaccompanied minor without a boarding pass making it through the screening process is not a “security breach” since he “might have” told the screeners that he was with an adult.

“Babes in arms” can fly free on many airlines but a 10 year old boy isn’t sitting in anyone’s lap, he’s having his own seat. And therefore his own boarding pass. Wouldn’t the adult he was supposedly with have a boarding pass for him? Wouldn’t the screener wonder why a boarding pass wasn’t presented for the child? Wouldn’t anyone think to wonder why the two were walking through security separately? Obviously this kid is rather bright but shouldn’t the same agency that makes me take off my shoes and pack my shampoo in my checked baggage be able to outwit a ten-year-old?