Originally Posted by eyecue
As one poster alluded to this has been discussed. IF you alter a boarding pass you could be charged with forgery, etc. IF you do the process described by purchasing another ticket that is not SSSS then you run the risk of being charged with interference with the screening process. If you have both BP's on you, then it would not be hard to prove that you did it. Besides that, there is a civil penalty and you could end up on a no fly list. Is it worth it?
One has done nothing illegal by choosing to buy, then buying, a ticket. Are you going to charge a husband/father with interfering with the screening process for doing the same thing to help his wife and children through the checkpoint?
"Interfering with the screening" process cannot be so vague and all-encompassing as to include buying another ticket on the same flight. Maybe I wanted a seat open next to me. Maybe the airline put me in coach and I decided I might want first, then later decided against the extra expense. Maybe I just wanted a trip to the airline lounge and this was a good way to trick them.
As many of us demanded in the previous thread regarding altering a boarding pass -- show me the statute. If you don't have a statute or a regulation, you cannot convict me of a crime. Thankfully, that's how it still works in the United States of America. (Excepting of course Guantanamo.)