British Airways passenger sneaks onto Heathrow flight without detection

The man, who hasn't been named, walked onto the 7:20am British Airways aircraft headed to Oslo, Norway, on Saturday by tailgating other passengers through security and evading checks at the gate.

Cabin crew only detected the breach because the flight was full and he kept sitting in passengers' assigned seats, according to witnesses.

The man, described as a "scruffy solo traveller in his late twenties or thirties," reportedly pretended to be with a family who passed through the final passport check at the gate before stepping onto the Airbus A320.

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A Heathrow spokesperson told LBC: "On Saturday (13 December) an individual was arrested attempting to travel without a valid ticket.

"They had gone through full security screening in line with all required protocols. As this is a live case, we are unable to provide further comment at this time."

Mike LaCorte, who was aboard with his wife for a break in the Norwegian capital, saw the entire incident from his seat in row one.

Mr LaCorte, a company chief executive, said: "This chap moved around until the plane filled up. And then a member of the cabin crew went over to speak to them.

"It was clear that this person didn’t have any boarding pass or anything at all," he told the Telegraph.

Mr LaCorte described the interloper as a white man in his "late twenties or early thirties, a scruffy solo traveller" wearing an "off-white tracksuit”" and carrying a "small" rucksack.

After passing security, meaning he was not detected carrying any banned items, the man fooled the BA check-in agent by posing as a member of a family who had their passports and boarding passes inspected in the usual way.

Mr LaCorte added: "The cabin crew came in and tried to map where the seats were that he was sitting at, and then searched the cabin overhead bins."

Mr LaCorte said that all genuine passengers had to pass through security again, before sniffer dogs then searched the airliner before the rightful passengers were allowed to board again.

Philip Baum, a visiting professor of aviation security at Coventry University, said the airline was responsible for checking that all people aboard their aeroplanes were allowed to be there.

Mr Baum said: "It demonstrates 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."

The flight from was delayed by three hours and twenty minutes, according to flight-tracking website Flight Radar 24.

LBC has also contacted British Airways for comment.