A second security breach at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport - this one reportedly involving an undercover sting - has cost a JetBlue ticket agent his job.
In a Nov. 19 test of aviation security, an undercover inspector for the Transportation Security Administration told the ticket agent that he needed to get a package to Boston that day - and handed the employee a $100 bill, according to a TSA report obtained by a Boston television station.
The JetBlue employee pocketed the money and put the package in the name of an unwitting passenger on a flight to Boston, the report by WBZ-TV says.
The package went through the customary baggage screening and was grabbed by a TSA team before it was loaded onto the jet, according to the report.
That episode happened just four days after 16-year-old North Mecklenburg High student Delvonte Tisdale apparently was able to stow away in the wheel well of a jet in Charlotte.
Tisdale's body was found Nov. 15 in Milton, Mass. Investigators believe Tisdale's body fell from a US Airways jet as it lowered its landing gear on the approach to Boston.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police are investigating the Tisdale case, and are trying to learn how he gained access to the plane.
After TSA tested security at the Charlotte airport on Nov. 19, the JetBlue ticket agent lost his job, the airline said. JetBlue declined to name the employee, or to say whether anyone has been criminally charged.
"We are fully cooperating with the TSA's investigation into this matter," the airline said in a statement Thursday. "... We will not provide additional comment as this is an ongoing investigation."
To read the complete article, visit www.charlotteobserver.com.
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