62-year-old woman sneaks onto aircraft without ticket
Jan 20, 2018, 2:06 pm
#167
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: NYS
Programs: Days of Our Lives, General Hospital
Posts: 1,495
Jan 20, 2018, 5:26 pm
#169
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,335
Yes, she always got too much trouble. She was not supposed to be there. She was banned ORD, MDW, Greyhound bus, and Amtrak, as well. She won't change her behaviors. She was supposed to stay at mental health for 2 years on her probation.
Jan 20, 2018, 7:44 pm
#170
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,129
Jan 20, 2018, 9:11 pm
#171
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 60
Although to be fair I wouldn't necessarily single out the TSA here, nor would I claim that being older is the only way. In a couple of cases kids managed to get onto aircraft without documentation. Back in November one of them boarded a flight at GVA (https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/s...rd-flight.html) but was caught before takeoff:
"According to airport officials, she first attempted to follow a crew onboard a flight, but this plan was stymied when she was challenged by an alert gate agent. Unfortunately, the pint-sized, would-be stowaway had a contingency plan already in place. The mischievous escape artist simply pretended to look for her parents before expertly melting into a nearby crowd."
The other kid, an 11 year old, managed to board a Jet2 flight MAN-FCO but was caught in flight ( http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-18979032
):
"An 11-year-old boy boarded a plane from Manchester to Rome on his own without a passport, tickets or boarding pass.
"He mingled with families to get through checks in Terminal 1 on Tuesday. He was found mid-air on the Jet2 plane after passengers became suspicious."
Last edited by Randomness; Jan 20, 2018 at 9:16 pm Reason: link incorrectly auto-parsed; forced correct link by adding spaces
Jan 20, 2018, 9:21 pm
#172
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,335
Jan 21, 2018, 5:00 am
#173
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,129
Evidently.
Although to be fair I wouldn't necessarily single out the TSA here, nor would I claim that being older is the only way. In a couple of cases kids managed to get onto aircraft without documentation. Back in November one of them boarded a flight at GVA (https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/s...rd-flight.html) but was caught before takeoff:
"According to airport officials, she first attempted to follow a crew onboard a flight, but this plan was stymied when she was challenged by an alert gate agent. Unfortunately, the pint-sized, would-be stowaway had a contingency plan already in place. The mischievous escape artist simply pretended to look for her parents before expertly melting into a nearby crowd."
The other kid, an 11 year old, managed to board a Jet2 flight MAN-FCO but was caught in flight ( Boy, 11, boards plane to Italy at Manchester Airport without passport - BBC News
):
"An 11-year-old boy boarded a plane from Manchester to Rome on his own without a passport, tickets or boarding pass.
"He mingled with families to get through checks in Terminal 1 on Tuesday. He was found mid-air on the Jet2 plane after passengers became suspicious."
Although to be fair I wouldn't necessarily single out the TSA here, nor would I claim that being older is the only way. In a couple of cases kids managed to get onto aircraft without documentation. Back in November one of them boarded a flight at GVA (https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/s...rd-flight.html) but was caught before takeoff:
"According to airport officials, she first attempted to follow a crew onboard a flight, but this plan was stymied when she was challenged by an alert gate agent. Unfortunately, the pint-sized, would-be stowaway had a contingency plan already in place. The mischievous escape artist simply pretended to look for her parents before expertly melting into a nearby crowd."
The other kid, an 11 year old, managed to board a Jet2 flight MAN-FCO but was caught in flight ( Boy, 11, boards plane to Italy at Manchester Airport without passport - BBC News
):
"An 11-year-old boy boarded a plane from Manchester to Rome on his own without a passport, tickets or boarding pass.
"He mingled with families to get through checks in Terminal 1 on Tuesday. He was found mid-air on the Jet2 plane after passengers became suspicious."
Jan 21, 2018, 7:03 pm
#174
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 60
I don't think these incidents reflect well on any of the security organizations involved.
Jan 22, 2018, 7:45 am
#175
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,129
Where did I claim that the TSA wasn't at fault? My point is that TSA isn't alone at being bad at this, not that the TSA was at fault in MAN or GVA, or that it wasn't at fault here.
I don't think these incidents reflect well on any of the security organizations involved.
I don't think these incidents reflect well on any of the security organizations involved.
Jan 22, 2018, 2:56 pm
#176
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 60
No problem. If you got the impression I was defending the TSA I obviously wasn't writing clearly enough.
Jan 22, 2018, 3:39 pm
#177
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 28,129
Jan 23, 2018, 11:31 pm
#178
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,722
Exactly. She has done it 10 times now! TSA should hire her just as FBI hired Frank Abingale Jr for doing the same thing (see Catch Me If You Can). Instead she'll get jailed again, because we have to show we are tough on airport security. People at my company lose their jobs for not following security protocols, but apparently that doesn't apply to TSA civil servants, who are more concerned with feeling up passengers.
Jan 24, 2018, 3:30 am
#179
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Exactly. She has done it 10 times now! TSA should hire her just as FBI hired Frank Abingale Jr for doing the same thing (see Catch Me If You Can). Instead she'll get jailed again, because we have to show we are tough on airport security. People at my company lose their jobs for not following security protocols, but apparently that doesn't apply to TSA civil servants, who are more concerned with feeling up passengers.
The airline is on the hook for internationally transporting an improperly documented passenger, but that really shouldn't be the TSA's issue. It should be the airline's issue.
Assuming this woman has some kind of mental problem, it seems to me that the criminal prosecution of this woman is just a waste of government resources and that incarceration in a federal prison is just a waste of money in a country with so much violent crime as we have in the US. Hopefully a jury and judge realize this woman needs some kind of help for her pathological problem when it comes to air travel rather than being given an expensive stay in an expensive, brutal boarding school for criminals, aka prison.
Jan 24, 2018, 9:51 am
#180
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,657
From the media reports I've said ... the difference between you and her is that you're trying to get on a specific flight. She chose a moment to pass through the TSA checkpoint when the TDC was distracted; she then made different attempts to board different aircraft (including staying overnight in the airport) until she managed to get past a distracted gate agent.