He must have said something stupid to tsa. Or just really unlucky.
Doesn't say that in the article, and he had a state-issued ID. Now, perhaps he had one just for this, but I could believe the kid is 15 years old, which means he isn't an "unaccompanied minor" in airline terms. And if it was a driver's license (as reported in other outlets, but I'm pretty sure that they didn't fact-check that detail), he'd have to be 16 to have one.
Do you have another source for this? I'd love to be wrong.
> The folks at the airplane gate don’t look at id
You are simply incorrect. Modern airports are full of kiosks that require you to show an ID before they will give out any information (call it what you will, I call it a ticket desk, since they can usually print you boarding passes). Since you didn't read the article carefully and clearly don't know how airports work in this age, it's really up to you to be outraged at phantoms.
Apparently not everyone. Every time I'm at the airport near the check in area, the "check in" line is many times longer than the "baggage drop" line.