Kansas City, Mo. ? An 8-year-old from Kansas was kept from boarding a plane in Colorado when his named showed up on a terrorist no-fly list after he arrived late to the airport.

Bryan Moore, of Parker, was kept from taking a Great Lakes Airlines flight from Cortez, Colo., to Kansas City last week after spending three weeks visiting his sister in Utah.

When Bryan arrived only 20 minutes before his flight, Great Lakes didn’t have enough time to clear him to fly, said Monica Taylor, director of sales and marketing for the airline.

The airline, which requires travelers to arrive 45 minutes before their flights, had to call United Airlines to get clearance to let Bryan board. Great Lakes has carrier contracts with United for the flight, which left from Cortez Municipal Airport.

“They were on hold with United trying to get this fixed while the plane was sitting on the tarmac,” Taylor said. “We even tried to board him without luggage, but there just wasn’t enough time.”

Carrie Harmon, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, said people who have similar names to others on the no-fly list are flagged by the system. When this happens, a passenger heads to the counter to provide personal information to a ticket agent who verifies the person’s identity.

But Harmon said the protocol is different for children.

“There are no children on any watch lists,” Harmon said. “If a child has a name similar to one on the list, the ticket agent is supposed to clear the child and immediately issue a boarding pass.”

Glenna Fletcher, the boy’s mother, thought it was a joke when she heard her son’s name was on a terrorism watch list.

“To us, it should have been very simple,” Fletcher said. “He’s an 8-year-old. … He’s not a terrorist. Put him on the plane.”