Jet-Setting Teens Nabbed for Air Hooky

Three Brookline teenagers took hooky to new heights yesterday - try 30,000 feet.

The wayward eighth-graders boarded a flight at Logan International Airport for a quick hop to sunny North Carolina.

The chase was on after a Brookline principal tipped off police and parents that one of the teens, a 14-year-old girl - a runaway risk already - did not show up for school.

Police then learned that two 13-year-old boys, both friends of the girl, were also suffering from post-vacation blues.

``It was very, very helpful to us as far as the early call from the ... principal goes,'' said Brookline police Capt. John O'Leary. ``It set our investigation in motion and we were able to catch them on the plane. Otherwise, it could have been a lot more work and something could have happened to them.''

Missing persons reports were filed at the Brookline Police Department by all three families.

Brookline police notified the Massachusetts State Police at the airport to check airline rosters for the boys, and found them already in the air - aboard a U.S. Airways flight to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

The girl was also found aboard the same flight under her stepmother's name, police reported.

She allegedly used her stepmother's credit card, police said, to book the three flights; the boys also stole cash from their parents, police said.

North Carolina State Police met the trio at the airport and returned them right back home. They arrived at Logan at 4:40 p.m.

All three children were escorted back to the Brookline Police Department in an unmarked patrol car.

U.S. Airways allows children ages 5 to 14 to travel unaccompanied by an adult on non-stop flights for an additional $40 fee, and require personnel assistance, according to U.S. Airways policy.

The Herald's Mark Garfinkel contributed.

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