FTcadence

On August 21st, Donna Gold arrived at ATL, left her bags at Delta's curbside check in, passed TSA security screening using the Pre line, and boarded her Delta flight to NYC.

It was only after she took her seat on that flight that airline and TSA officials approached her and asked to see her boarding pass. After discovering that the name printed on her boarding pass was "Mark Dornan," she was informed that she was a security breach.

Donna was able to find proof that she was booked on that flight using her smart phone. After that she was assigned a different seat and was able to fly home.

Both the TSA and Delta are looking into the situation to determine who was responsible. The TSA has said that both Donna Gold and her luggage were screened, so there was no threat posed by her flying home.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/09/...boarding-pass/

capacutec

I wonder if she used her smartphone instead of her boarding pass at security?

dat4life

Interesting. I experienced something similar this February in Atlanta. I was connecting from Air France to Delta in Atlanta. When I tried to board my connecting flight, the computer threw a fit saying I already boarded. I showed the GA my ID. Though she was puzzled, she "unboarded" me in the system, scanned my boarding pass and let me go. When I got to my seat, there was a woman there. She too had a boarding pass for the seat.

It turns out she had MY boarding pass, with my name on it and all. I have a male name, and very common Asian surname. The other passenger also arrived on the same AF flight, but she was very blonde and caucasian, so she couldn't have passed for me. Somehow, the AF agent at CDG gave her my boarding pass. Though there was transit security in Atlanta, there was no ID check. Anyhow, it was all sorted out without issue.

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).

GUWonder

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.

MSPeconomist

It would be easy at some of the airport kiosks for someone to not grab (all of) their boarding passes and for the next person using the kiosk to end up with some stranger's boarding pass, itinerary, etc. If the itinerary or receipt has a bar code, inserting it into a kiosk results in the boarding pass being reprinted, which is another way that someone could get documents belonging to a stranger.

JW76

The fact is she was screened by TSA and therefore, if their screening is as effective as they would like us to believe it is ... she is not, in practical terms, a security risk. This "issue" is merely reflective of the airlines' desire to sell a given seat on a given flight as many times as possible.

evanderm

Once, I accidentally gave the BP for my connecting flight at the checkpoint, the scanner flashed red and the document checker waved me through.

MSPeconomist

She was screened, but for all we know she went through PreCheck when she should not have. If so, this is supposedly a security breach, although it's also a security breach for TSA employees to send random people through PreCheck and that's done all the time.

Athena53

So, if the TSA screening (liquids in Freedom Baggie, take off your shoes, pass through the Nude-o-Scope) is adequate on its own, why the insistence on photo ID? Think of the time we could all save if it's not necessary!

purcitron

weird.
once boarded a flight in FRA to VKO.. didnt scan the boarding pass, didnt check for visa.. just waved everyone through the gate

GUWonder

Everyone should be subject to PreCheck LLL type screening as a default.

Introducing complexity to a poorly controlled process leads to the kind of greater variance that increases costs and does nothing to improve outcomes in a reliable manner.

There is zero evidence that PreCheck LLL type screening being made the default screening for passengers in the main results in less effective security. Cue the jokes about how ineffective the TSA is.

84fiero

I had this happen to me several years ago at MCO, whatever time frame they were still having you show your BP and ID at the gate as well as at the security checkpoint. At the time our travel office (governent organization) could only issue paper tickets on Airtran, so I had to check in at the ticket counter. I presented my ID and paper ticket and after the agent handed me my BP I was on my way. Showed BP and ID to both the security checkpoint person and the GA at boarding time.

It wasn't until I was seated on the plane that another guy came up and said he had my seat number. Turned out we had the same last name, different first names. The other guy mentioned having trouble checking in as the agent showed he already was checked in. The FA was flumoxed after we explained the situation - she stared at the BP for a minute - asked us "so you're not related?" (Not sure how that would've mattered) I was a 25 year old white guy and the other pax was an African-American senior citizen...the other guy quipped "yeah we're brothers, can't you tell?" She just looked more confused but went off to get a GA and eventually came back with a new BP for me. Luckily it wasn't a full flight.

I recalled looking at my seat assignment on the BP but I guess hadn't noticed the name. But neither did anyone at the security checkpoint or gate, despite having looked at my ID and BP. I did learn my lesson and always double checked from then on.

ronin308

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.

N830MH

How did she get another boarding pass by someone else? How it did happen? She took wrong BP. Something is not right. She is not supposed to be. Is she arrested? Or did they let her go without incident?