Is It Illegal To Travel Under A False Name?

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Mar 11, 2004, 11:18 pm

#31

pynchonesque

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Quote:

Originally posted by cAAl:
What if your name is Bin Laden, Osama? Then should the powers that be in the local, state, and federal governments be entitled to know that you have some upcoming air travel?

Good point. I hadn't realized that air travel is the only way terrorists can kill people. As long as we stop people with funny foreign names from getting on planes, and we put thousands of rifle-toting dudes in airport terminals, we will be safe.

Mar 12, 2004, 9:19 am

#32

SAT Lawyer

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Quote:

Originally posted by pynchonesque:
Good point. I hadn't realized that air travel is the only way terrorists can kill people.

Yours is the good point.

Since terrorists are capable of more than one mechanism of attack, why even bother with any preventive air security measures at all? The same myopic analysis could be applied to any danger. For example, cancer isn't the only cause of death. So why bother to try to fight it at all?

Mar 12, 2004, 5:43 pm

#33

ben1979

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Quote:

Originally posted by BigLar:
So what names do people like P.Diddy, 50-cent, Cher, Beyonce, Snoop Dawg, etc. travel under?

They travel under Sean Combs, Curtis Jackson, Cherilyn LaPierre, Beyoncé Knowles, and Cordozar Broadus.

:-)

Mar 12, 2004, 5:45 pm

#34

ben1979

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Quote:

Originally posted by richard:
You can even get your passport or driver's license issued in any name, believe it or not. You just need to sign an affidavit saying that this is the name you go by.

how do you go about doing this? i would like to do this

Mar 13, 2004, 7:43 am

#35

pynchonesque

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Quote:

Originally posted by cAAl:
The same myopic analysis could be applied to any danger. For example, cancer isn't the only cause of death. So why bother to try to fight it at all?

You are mistaking a dynamic threat for a static one. Unless you are a Manichaean, morbidity does not adaptively deploy its resources to the path of least resistance; terrorism does. Clamping down on air travel and young Muslim males makes about as much sense as stationing the city's entire police force at the bank that was robbed yesterday. The goal of thieves is taking money, and their methods are flexible; the goal of terrorists is killing people and inciting panic, and their methods, likewise, are flexible. Terrorists have no more attachment to air travel than thieves have to a bank they robbed last week. Turning our air transportation system into an armed camp, because that's where the terrorists hit last time, is idiotic as far as security, but works pretty well as theatre and collective delusion.

Mar 13, 2004, 7:07 pm

#36

RichardInSF

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Quote:

Originally posted by richard:
In the US, as in other English common law countries, you can call yourself anything you want. Contrary to popular belief. You do not need a court order or anything.

However, you cannot be doing this to accomplish any fraud.

You can even get your passport or driver's license issued in any name, believe it or not. You just need to sign an affidavit saying that this is the name you go by.

Traveling under a different name is perfectly legal. Nothing false about it if that is what you call yourself. And you may have several names at the same time if you wish.

Not so, for a U.S. passport. I had a friend who had done a name change without a court order and the S.F. passport office wouldn't issue a passport without proof that the name had been in use for at least 5 years -- an expired credit card, etc. (as if we all save those!).

(Edited for spelling)

[This message has been edited by RichardInSF (edited Mar 13, 2004).]

Oct 5, 2015, 4:09 am

#37

indiekiduk

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Alex Salmond tried to fly as Captain Kirk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...itics-34442262

Oct 5, 2015, 4:28 am

#38

lhrsfo

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Quote:

Originally Posted by indiekiduk

Alex Salmond tried to fly as Captain Kirk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...itics-34442262

Being discussed in the UK Forum already. Not illegal but against BA's contract of carriage - unless prior permission is sought in which case it's fine. Certain people regularly do it.