Woman Boarded Delta Flight Using Strangers Boarding Pass
#16
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Because good security (no commentary on whether the TSA is good security though) is done in layers, a failure of a single layer like someone from the no fly list getting onto a plane does not by itself lead to possibility of an attack. That person was still screened so while in theory the risk they present is supposed to be higher than the average passenger, they screening ideally would have detected prohibited item they attempted to smuggle.
#17
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 825
She is not supposed to be. Is she arrested?
Or did they let her go without incident?
Last edited by artemis; Sep 16, 2014 at 1:33 pm
#18
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO
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You can actually get through security without photo ID.
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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If two passengers with the same name are on the same flight (with the same destination), this is an easy mixup if you are using a check-in method that does not require a frequent flyer number and/or the PNR locator. It used to happen all the time before online/kioks checkin.
My name is relatively common if I'm going to some place with a large Asian-American population. Back in the 80's and early 90's, I encountered this problem once or twice per year.
#20
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Because good security (no commentary on whether the TSA is good security though) is done in layers, a failure of a single layer like someone from the no fly list getting onto a plane does not by itself lead to possibility of an attack. That person was still screened so while in theory the risk they present is supposed to be higher than the average passenger, they screening ideally would have detected prohibited item they attempted to smuggle.
If anything, passenger ID, background and boarding pass checks (and the TSA procedures dependent upon that checking) increases risk by diverting resources from interdicting contraband weapons/explosives/incendiaries.
#21
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#22
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#23
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I'm not picking on you in particular as many other posters have made this same mistake but neither of those things are a security breach, they are policy violations.
An example of an actual security breach would be someone on the no fly list getting through security due to having the wrong boarding pass or someone getting into a part of the airport that only ID holders should be allowed.
An example of an actual security breach would be someone on the no fly list getting through security due to having the wrong boarding pass or someone getting into a part of the airport that only ID holders should be allowed.
#24
formerly ThePinkUnicornShirtGuy
Join Date: Mar 2009
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Oh snap
I guess it is bad to give someone your first class upgrade when you do a hidden city ticketing and just want to make sure you get the MQM's?
*slowly walks away*
I guess it is bad to give someone your first class upgrade when you do a hidden city ticketing and just want to make sure you get the MQM's?
*slowly walks away*
#25
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So let's see--
1. ID checks are a critical element of TSA security ("Identity Matters") and therefore MUST be conducted.
2. When the ID check process fails, TSA says identity doesn't matter because the person and their luggage were screened anyway.
3. Neither the press nor the general public can muster two brain cells to rub together and call out this obvious contradiction as evidence of the uselessness of the ID check as a security measure.
Instead, all we get are proclamations of how this is a serious "security breach" by those who seek monetary gain through fear-mongering.
1. ID checks are a critical element of TSA security ("Identity Matters") and therefore MUST be conducted.
2. When the ID check process fails, TSA says identity doesn't matter because the person and their luggage were screened anyway.
3. Neither the press nor the general public can muster two brain cells to rub together and call out this obvious contradiction as evidence of the uselessness of the ID check as a security measure.
Instead, all we get are proclamations of how this is a serious "security breach" by those who seek monetary gain through fear-mongering.
#26
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#27
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The replacement passenger being airside already or using a refundable ticket's boarding pass to get airside is part of that method.
No doubt the airline revenue protection people don't like this.
#28
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Sorry guys, this is not clear to me. So when I check in, the airline checks my identity and valid flight and confirms or issues a boarding pass. When I go through "security," they are only confirming identity? The TSA is not confirming that I am a passenger (except that I have a boarding pass that might not be the one for my flight). The TSA scan is not connected to airline flight records except for what the pass says?
Cheers,
Pogopossum
Cheers,
Pogopossum
#29
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,876
Isn't this obvious? Look at the lady who kept boarding planes without a boarding pass. That tells you how good TSA screening is.
And to the people who talked about the multi-hole swiss cheese model of failure: that presumes errors are independent of each other. Many times they aren't. Like the flight landing in the Hudson-one engine failing is supposed to be rare, so both should be extremely rare. Unless the same thing (birds) caused them to fail.
And to the people who talked about the multi-hole swiss cheese model of failure: that presumes errors are independent of each other. Many times they aren't. Like the flight landing in the Hudson-one engine failing is supposed to be rare, so both should be extremely rare. Unless the same thing (birds) caused them to fail.
#30
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO
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Sorry guys, this is not clear to me. So when I check in, the airline checks my identity and valid flight and confirms or issues a boarding pass. When I go through "security," they are only confirming identity? The TSA is not confirming that I am a passenger (except that I have a boarding pass that might not be the one for my flight). The TSA scan is not connected to airline flight records except for what the pass says?
Cheers,
Pogopossum
Cheers,
Pogopossum
You could for example buy a refundable ticket, check in, go through security, cancel your check-in and refund the ticket and then fly on someone else's onward 1st-class upgraded ticket to anywhere in the USA for free.
Not that I have ever done so. Ahem!