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Old Sep 16, 2014, 10:01 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by Maxwell Smart
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.

Exactly. TSA is here on record saying ID doesn't matter because the passenger and luggage had been screened. Where are our TSA regulars (TSAPressSec?) to explain this glaring contradiction?
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Old Sep 17, 2014, 4:46 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by formeraa
One time, I successfully got through security with a boarding pass from the same flight two months earlier. It turns out that I accidentally pulled out the old boarding pass from my carryon. It wasn't caught until it beeped at the gate and, even then, the GA didn't realize what happened. She just thought that the computer had printed the wrong seat assignment somehow. She crossed out the seat assignment and printed the new one on the boarding pass.

It wasn't until I got on the plane and looked at the boarding pass that I figured out what happened. The funny thing is that the TSA screening area was not at all busy (only 2 or 3 people in line) and the TSA agent carefully scruntized my boarding pass (putting checkmarks by all the relevant info including the wrong date).

Back in the day (before ID was checked), errors like the OP's happened a lot particularly to people with common names. They would often get sorted out on the plane (or never sorted out).
This has happened to me as well. This just goes to show , that the TSA and many other govt agencies have a high % of employees who do not perform the functions asked of them to a high standard.
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Old Sep 17, 2014, 6:00 am
  #33  
 
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My wife had a significantly delayed flight from CVG to LGA. In the Skyclub, she asked to be switched to another flight, but the agent said she was already on that flight and "reprinted" a boarding pass. When my wife boarded the flight, someone else came and said you are in my seat. The GA came on board and asked to see her ID. Turns out both of them had the same first name and last name. Everything ended up fine as both of them departed on that flight.
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Old Sep 17, 2014, 10:04 pm
  #34  
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Originally Posted by formeraa
The boarding pass could have been printed by an agent. The agent may have chosen the wrong passenger by accident. On the other hand, she could have entered her name into the kiosk and the kiosk chose the wrong name.

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.
Understood. I'd agree with that. Let the airlines doing their job. They have to be carefully and next time if they bring the confirmation number or print the flight itinerary from home computer. They can read the flight itinerary. You have show the flight itinerary or confirmation number to ticket agent. They have make sure if you have a real name and don't make anymore mistake again.
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Old Sep 17, 2014, 11:16 pm
  #35  
 
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The entire TSA setup is a joke
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Old Sep 18, 2014, 3:24 am
  #36  
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The SkyCap screwed up.
I'd blame her as well, but I rarely check my BP anymore, especially cuz I have it on my phone.
TSA screwed up in that they should be checking names (based on their rules). (Whether or not that rule is justified is something else entirely.)

No security breach, because she was screened as well as TSA can screen anyone. Even if she shouldn't have gotten PreCheck on her own, between the TSA randomly sending people through it anyways AND Pre being what proper security should anyways look like, with no added benefit of the "enhanced" security, no security breach.

And GA did nothing wrong - especially on a domestic flight, they don't always need to be checking IDs (though maybe they should start, but not as a security policy - more as financial thing, to make sure they're only boarding the appropriate people).
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Old Sep 19, 2014, 11:51 pm
  #37  
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Originally Posted by joshwex90
The SkyCap screwed up.
I'd blame her as well, but I rarely check my BP anymore, especially cuz I have it on my phone.

TSA screwed up in that they should be checking names (based on their rules). (Whether or not that rule is justified is something else entirely.).
No one who blame her. Nobody! It was not her fault, but it's not Skycap fault. He have be careful. Don't let the Skycap anymore mistake again. He have to be careful and don't put a different name onto the computer system. Go easy on her.
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Old Sep 20, 2014, 1:24 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by N830MH
No one who blame her. Nobody! It was not her fault, but it's not Skycap fault. He have be careful. Don't let the Skycap anymore mistake again. He have to be careful and don't put a different name onto the computer system. Go easy on her.
I said I "would" blame her, "but," indicating that at the end of the day, I don't blame her, because I understand. Even if I did blame her, it would be for not checking more closely - but not that she was really in the wrong.

Why do you not blame the Skycap?
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Old Sep 22, 2014, 8:30 pm
  #39  
 
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Ticket printers at the counter often jam or the agent prints 2 or the wrong one. There was a study done that is very reliable that says visual inspection like TDC with the conditions that are akin to TSA are only accurate 70 percent of the time and there is nothing that can be done to improve it.
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Old Sep 23, 2014, 3:33 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by eyecue
Ticket printers at the counter often jam or the agent prints 2 or the wrong one. There was a study done that is very reliable that says visual inspection like TDC with the conditions that are akin to TSA are only accurate 70 percent of the time and there is nothing that can be done to improve it.
Do you have a reference to the study?
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Old Sep 23, 2014, 10:27 pm
  #41  
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Originally Posted by jkhuggins
Do you have a reference to the study?
Some have commissioned proofreading-against-copy studies in other contexts, and I'm pretty sure that the TSA won't have better results than professional proofreaders -- and that is for word to word checks in an "appropriate" manner.

When it comes to positive or negative matching of ID's face against a present person, studies have indicated that failure rates are material and in the low double-digit range even for "trained" passport control personnel.

I have little doubt that an ordinary two-year old child is at least as reliable at proper facial-recognition outcomes as an ordinary DHS employee checking ID without use of FRT.

The claim that nothing can be done to improve outcomes at the TDC is a claim rooted in myth. But to fix it is not worth it, and the best fix is to scrap TDC.
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Old Sep 25, 2014, 4:08 pm
  #42  
 
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The less busy the TSA TDC dog and pony show, the worse the TSA-equivalent of "proofreading"? Either way, this shouldn't be a surprise given the labor force utilized in this role.
Those comments might make logical sense if this was reported as a common problem. How many people fly on a plane per year in this country and how many times have you heard of this happening?

the best fix is to scrap TDC.
Then anyone can access the secure area. Given that this policy is standard throughout the first world, I have to scratch my head and ask if they know better or if you do.

The entire TSA setup is a joke
...and your rationing for that is? Your alternative is? The good and bad results of your alternative are?
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Old Sep 25, 2014, 4:37 pm
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by ou81two
...and your rationing for that is? Your alternative is? The good and bad results of your alternative are?
Rationing the TSA is a start I agree
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Old Sep 25, 2014, 4:39 pm
  #44  
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Originally Posted by ou81two
Those comments might make logical sense if this was reported as a common problem. How many people fly on a plane per year in this country and how many times have you heard of this happening?
It happens repeatedly. It's still being facilitated by resale or free distribution of otherwise-throwaway ticket segments.

Originally Posted by ou81two
Then anyone can access the secure area.
Anyone accessing the secured airside area of the passenger terminal ought to have been screened for contraband WEIs, so no big deal as long as everyone -- boarding pass or not, ID or not -- has been effectively screened for purposes of interdicting contraband weapons/explosives/incendiaries.

Originally Posted by ou81two
Given that this policy is standard throughout the first world, I have to scratch my head and ask if they know better or if you do.
TSA style ID and boarding pass crosschecks are not standard througought the world for domestic flights. I even fly on some international routes -- repeatedly each month -- without any ID check whatsoever.
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Old Sep 25, 2014, 4:52 pm
  #45  
 
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Care to prove anything you say? I fly most weeks. I've never had water taken from me inside of security. That includes in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The changes you have mentioned would let people who are part of a conspiracy enter an airport to coordinate things from the inside. The current system makes sure that anyone who gets in the airport has a ticket and ID that match and as a result that ticket has been run through the Secure program. Changing this would mean that people like known terrorists could easily get access to all of our major airports. It's presently very hard for them to do that. You post on a security forum and don't get this?

Have any other great ideas? Maybe we can do away with those pesky and uppity ATC's next.
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