Originally Posted by xyzzy
Someone *knows* that I've left the airport just because I enter the secure area with a BP? You have to have a "Pretty good reason" to get a BP? I've purchased refundable tickets to enter the secure area. I could enter and leave at will and nobody forced me to either leave or get on an airplane. I could just as easily have printed an imitiation BP at home. Then nobody at the airport would know (by name) that I was even there.
It seems to me that nobody is "accounted for" under this scheme. It's just that most people play along with the "it makes me feel secure" charade of showing ID/BP to get to the secure area. As with most of these rules, this "hall pass" approach to security used here is just another waste of time. It's really a case of the government enforcing the airline's ticket non-transferability rules.
No, they know when you board the aircraft. You are checked in at the gate, are you not? I've never said anyone forced anyone to do anything. But if you purchase a ticket, they do know if you use it. As for printing an imitation boarding pass at home, if the ticket checker lets you by with it, I guess you proved your point. We don't "check" boarding passes, we only look for the SSSS.