Kids on a plane

The Columbus Dispatch: Parents have enough things to worry about. They shouldn’t have to fret about whether their kids are hopping on a plane to parts unknown.

Yet that’s just what three Florida youngsters did earlier this month, and they had surprisingly little trouble doing so.

Bridget Brown, a 15-year-old Jacksonville, Fla., girl, wanted to go to the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, so she, her brother Kodie, 11, and friend Bobby Nolan III, 13, jumped in a taxi for the airport. They plunked down cash — baby-sitting money Bridget had saved up — for three tickets to Nashville, strolled through security and flew about 500 miles, apparently without so much as a sideways glance from anyone.

The Transportation Security Administration does not require anyone younger than 18 to show any identification. ... But somebody accompanying a young air traveler, such as a parent, should have ID and should be required to show it. ... At the very least, a parent or guardian with a valid ID should have to escort a youngster to the point where TSA officials check boarding passes against ID cards.

In this case, the three children appeared to have innocent motives. ... But it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a teenager boards a plane to run away from home, to make mischief or even to do others harm