Probably Not Much Worse Than Coach...
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:53 pm
In fact maybe better, since he was unconscious for most of the trip:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S ... 417730.php
Teen Stowaway "OK" After Hopping Plane from San Jose to Hawaii
The astonishing case of the 15-year-old stowaway who scaled a fence at Mineta San Jose International Airport before surviving a five-hour flight to Maui in a jet's wheel well has stunned aviation experts marveling at his survival - and is raising questions about the security breach it exposed.
Authorities said the Santa Clara boy apparently hopped an 6-foot fence topped with barbed wire at the San Jose airport while it was dark Sunday morning. Surveillance video showed an unidentified person walking toward a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767 on the tarmac, authorities said.
Flight 45 took off at 7:55 a.m. - with no one realizing the boy had snuck into the plane's wheel well.
The boy was apparently unconscious for the duration of the 2,400-mile flight at high altitude and frigid temperatures. After the plane landed at the Kahului airport in Maui at 10:30 a.m. Hawaii time, he remained unconscious for about an hour before emerging from the wheel well, said FBI Special Agent Tom Simon in Honolulu.
"Hawaiian Airlines personnel in Maui noticed the individual on the ramp" and immediately notified airport security, said Alison Croyle, a spokeswoman for the carrier.
Teen won't be charged
A photo from Maui News showed the boy sitting up on a stretcher and being placed into an ambulance. His name and condition weren't released. He is not facing criminal charges in Hawaii - or in San Jose - and was released to social workers, authorities said. Simon said the teen had run away from home after an argument.
The boy apparently picked the first plane he saw, not realizing that his high-flying sojourn would take him halfway across the Pacific Ocean, Simon said.
"The boy is lucky to be alive," Simon said. "I can't imagine anybody surviving that type of flight."