Originally Posted by
abrandnewcar
My understanding was that it has to be shown on wide body planes and this was after a couple of cases when people boarded the wrong flights and didn't realize until after pushback and also after that weird
HKG case 7 years ago when that young dude dressed in the old man mask managed to board and get to Canada wearing a disguise.
Supposedly a boarding pass check would have caught that guy
Yeah, I think that is incorrect, assuming you are not just being sarcastic ;-)
First, there is no difference between a narrow body and a wide body when it comes to BP checking with the gate agent. Why would they perform the check on the plane afterwards on dual isle planes but not on single ones?
Second, I could have a boarding pass saying anything ... they aren't checking ID, or scanning it, just a visual check of the BP. The only reason to check is to get people down the right aisle, anything else would be trivial to get around on purpose.
Third, when I flew a TPAC J this year I was chatting with the SD when I boarded because I was travelling with my broken foot. I was first on the plane, and she asked for by BP and I said "I'm in 2A" (or whatever it was) and I didn't want to drop my crutches to fish it out and she said oh that's fine. Waiting for the other PAX to start boarding we were chatting about how many people board and have no idea where they are going on the large wide bodies, hence why they ask.
Fourth, if they are really interested in avoiding people accidentally on the wrong plane there are other ways. For example, when the United EWR and ORD flights board at 6am from the same gate area in YOW they actually complete boarding and then announce the flight destination over the PA before they close the cabin door to catch people on the wrong flight, it happens so often. But the boarding for an AC widebody has gates so spaced apart it isn't like you are going to wander down the wrong jetway; the GA would have to screw up for you to get on the wrong flight.