Originally Posted by
JamesEaston
Of the hundreds of commercial airports in the Schengen zone I know of only a few that no longer check documents during boarding including AMS and VIE. In a latter post it was mentioned CPH and a few German airports. There are certainly not many more than that.
Yes there are many more than that. The policy changes with airlines started only three(ish) years ago and some of them joined in later, so it might be little hard to get the picture. Also it was not announced in any way because you are still supposed to carry your documents and I guess they can always check IDs if there is some reason for it. Also some airlines, especially LCCs, still check at the gate but I think it is mostly to prevent resale of tickets.
In addition, nowadays in many cases you don't have to show any ID even with checked luggage. I noticed that they just didn't even look at my passport when I put it into counter so nowadays I only produce it when checking bags into intra-Schengen flights when asked. Also I have noticed that in boarding queue plenty of people have their passports ready out of habit.
Unfortunately I can add only few airports that has not been mentioned before, because honestly I just cannot remember for sure for some places. But HEL, ARN, CPH, MUC and VNO have been definitely no check airports with AY, LH and SK. Only Schengen flights last two years I can remember for sure showing ID is with BT both ways between HEL and RIX.
Yes, there are still risk of getting caught involved when flying intra-Schengen without passport or ID card that is valid as traved document. And it is still illegal between most Schengen countries.