RichMSN

I'm in, too. Let me know where to send a contribution.

Boggie Dog

If the airline wants to take the effort to check an ID against the boarding pass then I have no problem. It is the airlines property that I wish to be carried on from one place to another on.

But what have they really accomplished by doing so?

On the other hand it is no business of the government if I choose to travel by air any given day. If I was making the same trip in my private auto should I be required to present ID before entering the freeway?

I do not believe that I should be required to present ID to any agent of the government in order to exercise my right to travel.

MKEbound

Please don't take this as a personal attack, but just because you think something is "perfectly reasonable" doesn't mean it's not an attack on our rights and personal freedoms.

There are plenty of people who feel it is perfectly reasonable to have to show ID to board a plane, or to be denied the right to carry water (one of the most inert substances on earth), or to be striped searched...

Everyone has a different definition, so that can't be the standard. Perhaps that's why an incident like this (along with MANY, MANY others) have me and other so concerned. One TSO can decide that he has the authority to detain or have a man arrested for not breaking any laws, but for a much worst offense: standing up for his rights to travel!

bocastephen

Please explain, from your point of view, how showing an ID to a screener actually verifies your identity in any way - or more to the point, verifies the identity of someone who doesn't want their true identity verified.

RichMSN

As any 19 or 20-year-old college student can attest, fake IDs are a dime a dozen. Those that want to use one to get on planes will create ones good enough to fool the TSA drones sitting at the ID stations (simply not using crayon might be good enough).

The ID requirement was originally put in place by the airlines to enforce the non-transferability of airline tickets. How this ever became attached to security is unknown.

ElPasoPilot

Even more so, TSA spends considerable energy eyeballing the ID with a magic light to determine if it is real or not, and to see if it matches the name on the boarding pass.

Unfortunately, there is ZERO comparison of that name to ANY list while in the security line, to see if the holder is a bad guy or not.

There is also ZERO scrutiny of the paper boarding pass. Almost any 12 year old can change the name in the PDF and reprint that boarding pass to match his UNFORGED ID and board the plane with ease.

Talk of whether or not ID checks at the security checkpoint should happen or not aside, I have yet to hear what this current farce of a check ACTUALLY DOES!!!

This only catches stupid folks with phony IDs. Anyone with a smidgen of intelllegence and ill intent WOULD JUST REPRINT THE BOARDING PASS. IT'S NOT SECURITY!!!

Sorry about the shouting.

bocastephen

This is the weakest link in the passenger verification process next to the inSecure Flight system which now allows someone who is ON the list to get themselves bypassed by sending different ID information and claiming they are really someone else (I'm not sure of the genius who thought this one up).

I think the TSA's point of view here is "nothing escapres our blue lights" - they feel they can catch every single fake ID, thus a passenger would theoretically never be able to buy a ticket in a name matching the fake ID and get through the checkpoint.

Nice theory, but like most TSA's processes, full of holes.

The TSA is not accounting for legitimate IDs which are born of fake or stolen identities - this would be the primary source of a determined individual who is carrying out a mission to do harm. If the ID passes the "blue light", the passenger goes through.

The TSA is not accounting for many of the undetectable fake IDs that can be bought on the street - the good ones might cost a pretty penny, but they are still out there and generally undetectable.

The TSA is allowing those without a government photo ID to get through by showing a couple other IDs, one of which has a photo - so a terrorist can show their Costco card, perhaps a library card and a couple credit cards and be on their way...so what does the ID policy get us again?

In short, it doesn't really matter who is flying as long as their baggage and person have been properly checked for legitimate weapons/explosives and they aren't acting so out of sorts that a 5 year old could play BDO and single them out.

If the airlines want to verify someone's identity to prevent ticket transfers, that is their prerogative - and it's unlikely someone is going to spend $600 on a superb fake ID so they can use someone else's $400 plane ticket.

ElPasoPilot

Not even needed.

Consider the following scenario.

Bad Guy has Good Buddy purchase ticket with Good Buddy’s legitimate ID.

Bad Guy prints two boarding passes, one with Good Buddy's name, and a forged one with Bad Guy's name (again, done by his 12 year old daughter in PowerPoint.)


Bad Guy walks through TSA security with his own personal ID, and forged Bad Guy Boarding Pass. TSA never checks his name against any security list, stares at his ID, sees it matches his boarding pass, and blesses it as good.

Bad Guy is now in the secure area and is free to board the plane. Repeat at jetway smurf check if needed.

Any other questions?

TSA actually thinks the Bad Guys can't figure this out???

LoganTSO

Then what presenting ID to our brethren over in CBP to enter the country, something that is required at every single border checkpoint in every country of the world, whither it be air, sea or land?

Trollkiller

Separate issue.

bocastephen

They think their way around this issue is bar-coding the bp information so it can't be altered. Back when you could check-in online while still appearing on the SSSS list, I regularly used Liquid Paper to remove the offending security tag and photocopied/printed the new bp so I could avoid the check.

Now that hole was plugged, one can still alter other information on the boarding pass quite easily. I believe their next stage is to require the bp content to be bar coded so they can scan it and make sure the scanned data matches the printed data.

Good idea, except it's fairly straightforward to find out what bar coding system is being used and generate your own bar code to replace the one the airline spat out on the bp. I read somewhere (on FT) that they were planning on using an encryption standard to plug that hole, but I've seen no evidence of that being in play - nor have we caught wind of a policy that says boarding passes must contain a scannable bar code before they are considered valid - so it's still OK to tear or otherwise mar the barcode space so it's unreadable.

Another issue - the boarding passes issued by airline ARC ticket printers do not contain bar codes - so another policy would need to be written to replace these printers so a bar code can be added to the boarding pass.

Gee, so many holes to plug...poor TSA.

FWAAA

From the blog:



Any legal basis for ordering a traveling companion to leave an airport under threat of arrest or for "banning" that companion from the airport property for 24 hours? Did the iron fist BNA cop move to ABQ and take over their airport police force?

bocastephen

The only person who can ban someone from an airport is the Airport Director. Although most states have local laws which give proxy authority from businesses to cops in order to prevent loitering, the other passenger had a legitimate reason to be there. Unless the airline refused to transport them, the police had no legal basis to remove that individual unless the Airport Director gave the order and would need some legitimate reason to do so.

Sounds like this entire episode is being neatly packaged by the cops as 'creating a disturbance' - let's see if that holds up in court.

yyzvoyageur

I doubt many CBP officers consider TSOs to be their brethren. I agree with TK: it's a completely separate issue.

Italy98

Count me in for a contribution.

Which airline was he flying and is the airline doing anything to rectify the situation?