Plot hole: The sheer distances Kevin covers on foot in one night are outrageous. Between 9pm and midnight he walks from Carnegie Hall to the children's hospital, to 95th street, back to the toy store carrying a large paint can and a large 2x4 (street signs here put it around 59th and 5th), back up to 95th, then all the way back to midtown, to Rockefeller Plaza. One way from W 95th street to around E 59th and 5th Ave. is at least an hour on foot for an adult, he does this 4 times between 9pm and midnight, once while carrying a 2x4 and paint can, once while being chased by 2 adults, and he still has time to set up a house full of traps.
Other mistake: When Kevin is checking in, the time on the clock behind the front desk lady doesn't change from 2:52 over the whole course of time that he's checking in.
Revealing mistake: Makeup is visible before the first brick hits Marv Merchants.
Continuity mistake: When Harry is going to the back of the relatives' brownstone the row of houses is on the right as he walks away from the one Kevin is in. When he gets to the back the houses should all still be on his right, but the one he breaks into is on the left.
Continuity mistake: Before Harry jumps for the ladder, there are several close-ups and there is nothing on the bottom rung. When Harry jumps, the bottom rung is suddenly covered in green goo causing him to slip.
Factual error: The AA flight number to Miami is a 4 digit number beginning with a 5. These are regional flight numbers but the family flew on a mainline 767.
Continuity mistake: The hotel staff and security come up to Kevin's room - Kevin starts playing the tape and fast forwarding and muting when the woman in the scene talks. At the end of the scene when the man in the movie says "maybe I'm off my hinges but I forgive you" the woman lets out a sigh of relief. Kevin leaves as he plays this scene, and the sigh in the movie couldn't be heard.
Continuity mistake: The woman at the gate to the New York flight arranges the tickets in a neat pile with the edges in line. The next shot, the tickets are a mess again.
Continuity mistake: Kevin is carrying his dad's bag. In the shots of him running the bag is missing, he only has his backpack, but you can see it in other shots, when the guy at the hotel is carrying his bags his dad's bag is missing.
Continuity mistake: When you see Marv first step onto the green slime in the basement, he's only a few feet away from the shelf with all the paint cans. But, after he falls, he slides for a much longer time than he would need to get to the shelf from where he fell.
Continuity mistake: Kevin sawed the ladder front to back but later when Harry Lime climbs the ladder it is shown side to side.
Continuity mistake: When Harry slips off the ladder outside, he falls backward towards the pallet on the ground (a few feet away from the ladder), but then suddenly the green slime falls from the ladder straight down onto his face. The slime would have landed on his feet or maybe legs, but by this time his face was well clear of the ladder.
Continuity mistake: Kevin takes photos of the Wet Bandits robbing Duncan's Toy Chest. Later on when the police look at a photo, it doesn't match up to when it was taken - they didn't have money in their hands.
Other mistake: While Kevin asks the ticket agent in New York what city he's in, there are signs at the gate indicating departing New York LaGuardia and destination Los Angeles. No gate at any airport would have a "departing" city sign - only destination city. Travelers know what city and airport they are physically at and leaving from.
Revealing mistake: This film takes place around Christmas, however, when the airport shuttle vans leave the McAllister house to head for the airport, there are short shadows under the vehicles, indicating it was filmed during the summer.
Plot hole: There is absolutely no way that a hotel staff employee would ever let a child check in alone. The staff would be required to personally contact the owner of the credit card Kevin hands them personally to make a reservation, not to mention Kevin never had his dad's government I.D on hand, so there was no proof of verification whatsoever, which is also required. Not possible today or even back then, especially considering the lawsuits, terminations, and bad press that it could lead too.
Other mistake: The old man that receives Kevin's bag in Florida can be seen walking through the airport when the family runs past him. The man could not have boarded the flight to Miami, as the family ran past him and were the last to board. The man was wearing shorts when he received the bag (but he could have changed on the flight in theory - had he been able to board). An old woman with him was in the same situation. (00:12:52 - 00:17:36)
Revealing mistake: Just after Mrs. McCallister screamed "KEVIIIN!" as she realised his son is lost again and faints, there's a little girl in the background who looks at her falling backwards and then at the camera for one second.
Continuity mistake: When Harry and Marv are climbing down the rope, Marv goes first. There is a low shot looking up at them and you can see Harry's head look over the roof. The next shot is looking right at Marv as he starts to climb down. Harry has vanished.
Continuity mistake: When Kevin checked into the Plaza, the credit card was manually processed by the receptionist. However, the Concierge later runs the same card electronically and the screen flashes "stolen." The hotel wouldn't have both systems in place for credit cards. They would have had to call the credit card company to verify the status if they used a manual processing system.
Chosen answer: Remember that Kevin didn't give his name, nor did the police ever see him. When he called, it was from a different address and he gave his name as "Murphy." There is no reason to think that Harry and Marv would tell the police about Kevin, since they would have to admit being outsmarted by a child and also admit to kidnapping, assault, battery, and a wide array of charges for what they tried to do to him. Even if he did testify, there is no reason to think his parents wouldn't know.
Greg Dwyer
And by the way Kevin knew nobody would believe him.
Not entirely correct - He rang the Police from the phone in his parents bedroom just before the spider scene.