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Airport checks to reduce as fliers stamp their anger, Govt mulls aligning security with global practices
By Aman Sharma, ET Bureau | 27 Sep, 2013, 04.35AM IST

NEW DELHI: Air travellers may not have to get their boarding passes stamped after security check at Indian airports if the home ministry manages to get the civil aviation ministry and Central Industrial Security Force on board with the idea of aligning domestic procedures with global practices.

The home ministry has initiated a debate on the matter following complaints from travellers, including foreigners, a senior official told ET. "The effort is to bring security at Indian airports on a par with international practices," said the official, who did not wish to be named. "If boarding passes are not stamped anywhere else in the world, why should they be at Indian airports? Why should a passenger be made to wait even for a minute? The threats in India are similar to those in the US or UK and if security passes are not stamped in those countries, the same should be the case here."

CISF Director-General Rajiv, who goes by only one name, confirmed that a move was on to do away with the practice of stamping boarding passes. "Most airports worldwide do not follow the practice of stamping the boarding pass. A review is now on at the civil aviation ministry. We will follow their decision," he said.

As part of the security drill practised at domestic airports, CISF personnel stamp the boarding passes after passengers complete the security check.

Practice has Advantages: CISF
The passes are checked for this stamp at the boarding gate, and then again by the airline staff at the aircraft ladder or the aerobridge. If the stamp is absent or not properly registered on any boarding pass, the passenger is required to undergo the security check again.

The practice has its advantages from the security perspective, Rajiv argued, saying that if a person with a stamped boarding pass is found carrying a prohibited substance at a later stage, the stamp can be tracked back to the CISF staff member who stamped the pass. The home ministry official, however, said the erring personnel could be identified even without the stamp because the security area remains under CCTV surveillance.

Stamping and rechecking the boarding pass for the stamp does not just amount to harassment of passengers, but also leads to substantial delays at airports, said D Sudhakara Reddy, head of the Air Passengers Association of India.

"There have been cases where passengers have missed flights in peak hours because of no-show at the departure gate due to boarding pass stamping issues even though they had checked-in on time. In this age of web check-in, and when boarding passes are planned to be sent on mobile phones of passengers, we have recommended that stamping of boarding passes be done away with," Reddy said.

The government is also considering doing away with checking air tickets and identification documents at the entrances to airports in the country in line with global practices, the home ministry official said. Kanu Gohain, a former director-general of civil aviation, however, said such decisions should depend on the threat perception in India, indicating that this practice may be tougher to scrap.

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