Originally Posted by bealine

1. Very easily explained. If the gate team are distracted by a passenger asking a question, or having to re-enter transfer bag tags etc, sometimes another passenger slips by unnoticed. Another time, a passenger may have been seat changed by the phantom seat shifters (so beloved on this forum - NOT!) and we re-issue the boarding card but forget to "Q him off in the system" as it is known.

2. Crew have to be very alert to having any passengers on board we shouldn't have. One thing a career in aviation teaches you is never to take anything for granted. Just because a G4S security man has been standing by the aeroplane from arrival to departure, doesn't mean that a stowaway hasn't managed to slip past unobserved. If you see a headcount going on, that is because the cabin crew wish to confirm the number on board for peace of mind.

(PLEASE NOTE - On British Airways we don't have Flight Attendants, no matter how much the American contingent herer want to use the term! The abbreviation FA in British English, besides Football Association, actually means something extremely offensive! Thinking about it, right now the "Football Association" itself is rather offensive in England!)

We also do not have planes or airplanes, we have aeroplanes or aircraft. We still observe some of our quaint, but loveable traditions!