I'm glad someone's finally taking action to expose this TSA nonsense for the farce that it really is. ^ ^

To anyone who doesn't think this kind of information wasn't already easily available check out these instructions listed on a United States Senators website and released to the media in April of this year:

http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWeb...fm?id=259517&&

I think the person who created the website (I assume genome4hire) is just illustrating what was already widely known.

Sen. Schumer and his grandstanding on this deserves :td: :td:

Boarding pass fakes are not a danger if the security screening measures work.

^ is all I have to say to that. May he rot there for quite some time upon arrival, too.

If anyone's going to go after this guy, wouldn't it be NWA?
 

It wouldn't shock me at all to see NW try to shut down the site on the grounds of trademark violation or some such. (He uses what look like authentic nwa.com and skyteam logos to me, though I admit I don't fly NW so have no firsthand experience.) I wonder if a parody defense would work here.

I don't see how DHS/TSA would have any legit grounds to shut him down. They could go after someone who actually tries to use one of these BPs for "presenting false papers" or some similar offense.

DHS/TSA and the airlines already know the BP requirement and the no-fly list are a farce. If exposure like this causes them to halt online checkin (OLCI) due to the embarassment factor, then maybe the side effects will cause the public to finally wake up to the stupidity.

And like most security theater, getting rid of OLCI doesn't close the hole, especially with most airlines using cheap white thermal paper for their airport-generated BPs (as opposed to the old-style cardstock, which I sorely miss and still try to get from UA whenever possible). Any bad guy with a few $ can go buy a thermal-paper printer and do the same thing for fake airport-generated BPs, just like any determined 20-year-old can find a way to generate decent fake IDs for the bars. And if that's not enough, over the years I've managed to collect a few pages of blank gold and blank blue UA cardstock, just from machine errors and such.

But like Spiff I agree that the airlines cannot afford to give up OLCI. It would cost them paper, terminal space, kiosk installation/support, and most important, expensive human staff. None of which they want.

Has the TSA (or any govt. dept.) claimed that ID checking is a security measure? I've always viewed it as ID+BP = revenue security, & the BP check by TSA as "are you on a flight today and have a reason to enter the sterile area". I've never viewed any of that as safety type security. I was just wondering if the TSA has claimed it is for security as I'm not sure that I've heard them actually claim that it is.

While the government doesn't outright say so, logically the comparison prior to the checkpoint of the name on a BP to the name on a photo ID is the only "enforcement" of the no-fly list. Without that one check the evil "Robert Johnson" (actual name on no-fly list) could just book a ticket under a non-evil name, check in online, and proceed to the gate.

While I personally feel the no-fly list is an abhorrently unconstitutional violation of due process that serves no purpose for increasing security (especially since it could be circumvented by any 20-year-old who knows how to get a fake ID), several government officials including Kip Hawley are on record as saying the no-fly list is an important security tool.

I don't think DHS can shut him down (except make threats), but NWA has a good case to shut him down - clear misuse of trademarks.

I kind of have to side abit with Peachfront. All we need now is some moron at DHS/TSA (and they seem to have plenty working there) or the Congress (plenty there too) to get a bug in their ear over this and shut down OLCI for everyone.

We are not playing with smart people - we are playing with reactionary cover-your-a$$ types who could care less how their decisions affect the flying public or the airlines. They already bumped OLCI from 36 hours to 24 hours (with no quantifiable security reason to do so) and blocked it from those with a secondary screening tag (possibly my fault for publicizing the liquid paper trick here at FT).

All they need is one good reason to get people all hot and bothered over this issue (vis a vis the BP generator website) to make it look like all the terrorists of the world will flock to make their own boarding passes and OLCI will get shut down entirely.

I'm all for battling the TSA and DHS over their stupid decisions, but let's not give them new ammunition to come up with more stupid decisions that make our travels even more difficult.

I have been editing the PDF generated boarding passes for quite some time for two uses.

1) I have used this to get through ORD security to meet associates at the RCC clubs when they pass through Chicago.

2) Also, when I need to change a last minute flight to an associates name, rather than pay a steep change fee to have a ticket reissued, I just edit the name of the passenger to match my associates ID. Then when passing through security his ID matches the name on the boarding pass. Within the 24 hour window for printing the return boarding pass, I email him his new boarding pass.

The only down-side is the inability to check luggage.


Now that the cat is out of the bag, I'm sure this loophole will be closed tight.

Darn!

Oh, and one more thing...
Kip Hawley and anyone supporting this person is an idiot!!!

Which is moot since the evil Robert Johnson can get a fake California ID or DL for about $200 with the name of his choice and fly anywhere domestically. Truth be told, if it wasn't for earning miles and points, I would have probably traveled under an assumed identity and cash paid tickets for years already just to keep my comings and goings private.

If someone wants to be invisible in this country, there are still lots of ways to do it.

The TSA must believe that it is for security, otherwise why would all of those without ID be automatically subjected to SSSS.

I can't say that they don't believe it is for security, but a main one is money. By limiting the number of people passing through security, they don't have to hire as many people etc.

How could you give him a window seat? He deserves a middle seat. ( A bit late on getting on this thread ;) ).

I am sure they are just waiting for the next 8/10 incident to ram through another round of meaningless rules. So ONCI could be on the list of things to get rid of along with limited check-in bags. Reducing the number of checked in bags would reduce TSA load, so Thousands can Stand Around more.

But doesn't the below imply that the ID checker has the entire contents of the No-Fly list memorized?

Maybe next to a baby? ;)