Erroneous Boarding Passes Slipping Past Security Is Not a New Thing

A recent event in which a Long Island woman boarded her flight with someone else’s boarding pass shines the spotlight on a recurring security problem.

The CBS News report of a woman boarding a Delta Air Lines flight with someone else’s boarding pass is only one of many such incidents that have occurred since post-September 11 security measures were put in place.

Excluding the case of Marilyn Hansen, who managed to bypass the TSA on at least two occasions without a boarding pass, there have been a number of incidents where passengers passed through security with an expired boarding pass or one that did not match the information on their personal identification.

Take the example of Olajide Noibi, a Nigerian man who traveled from New York to Los Angeles in 2011 without a valid boarding pass. He was arrested the next day after trying to do the same thing on a flight to Atlanta. The FBI found nearly a dozen boarding passes in Noibi’s suitcase, none which had his name on them.

Then there’s the 2013 case of Brad Gertz, a Chicago man who was told during check-in that his boarding pass had already been given to a passenger and used on an earlier flight.

There are several stories similar to the one brought to light this week. FlyerTalk users have also shared stories in the forums, regaling instances where they either personally experienced boarding pass errors or were witness to them.

In some cases, like the one occurred on Monday, the situation began as a result of a computer error that caused the incorrect boarding pass to print out. Donna Gold, the passenger who was given the wrong boarding pass, admitted to being late for her flight. She took the boarding pass and rushed to security, not stopping to look at the information on it. A TSA agent and Delta gate representative did look, though, and neither caught the inconsistencies between Gold’s ID and the boarding pass.

When FlyerTalk reached out to the TSA and asked how these errors occur, Press Secretary Ross Feinstein said:

[The] TSA employs multiple layers of security to protect the traveling public. Onboard aircraft, these layers include reinforced cockpit doors, Federal Air Marshals, armed pilots and a vigilant public, as well as many others, both seen and unseen.

TSA officials in Atlanta reiterated this point to CBS News when asked about Monday’s incident, stating that “there are many levels of security, and the agent involved should have caught the error … Gold and her luggage were screened, so there was no risk of harm.”

FlyerTalk repeatedly reached out to Delta for an update on determining where the security breakdown in Gold’s case occurred in its computer system, and to see if the carrier had any recommendations on how to prevent agents from letting bad boarding passes through. Delta has not responded.

[Photo: iStock]