E-Boarding pass fraud
 

To me, e-boarding passes seem to be a ripe opportunity for criminals to fraud airlines into flying them for free.

For instance, take the following scenario:
1. Obtain a PDF of a legitimate e-boarding pass
2. Edit details of the PDF such as flight number, date, etc using Acrobat Professional's retouch text tool
3. Check united.com to make sure the flight isn't full
4. Presto! You have a free ticket

Did airlines think of this when they opened themselves up by allowing passengers to print their own boarding passes? Don't jump to conclusions, I have NOT tried the aforementioned scheme myself, I am merely pointing something out that to me seems absurd.

The e-Boarding Passes (if you mean Mr. Easy Checkin Online) have a barcode with all the pertinant info (name, PNR, seat assignments, etc). So even editing the text won't change the data on the barcode.

Also, if you present a BP with a seat not currently assigned as "filled" in the system, I expect the computer will flash an error. Then when the GA tries to identify you, they will see you have no reservation and then it truly will be fraud and your next flight will probably be on Con Air. :)

I am rather sure that they did, hence the enhanced bar code used by the gate readers to check the e-boarding pass.

Since the bar code will not match the details edited on the pass, and cannot be edited, the pass itself will be rejected by the machine.

If you're really savvy, then you could probably edit, generate, and print out your own bar codes with the right software....

You'd have to know how UA stores the information on the barcode and then be able to replicate it.

This article explains how to decode information stored in a barcode.

While UA scans hte barcode on most of my flights in which i get an online boarding pass, other airlines do not.

In (my) recent history, I've seen agents on Airtran and US just take the top portoin of the boarding pass. Still don't think you'd get far without a seat assignment with this scam, though....

it is fairly simple to decode the number on the barcode, but how the number actually encodes the PNR, etc. would be difficult figure out. also, even if you figured it out, you'd need a valid ticketed PNR for the ticket to be matched against... and the computer would figure it out

as for getting past the TSA, this would work just fine :rolleyes:

So what if you edit the bar caode to match the fradulent character data you also entered? There is no PNR in the data base to match your data, no matter how self-consistent it is, and when the barcode is swiped, the gate reader immediately protests. Believe me! The data captured on each boarding document have to match a PNR for that trip, so that they can build a valid departure manifest, calculate weights, mark the e-ticket as used, capture M+ data, etc etc

Nice try, though. Certainly what you can do with fradulent boarding documents such as you describe is get past TSA out to the gate area. Of course, you could do that with any random refundable ticket for that same day, too.

Make sure the flight isn't full by checking the seat availability online, be the last person to board, scan for an empty seat, sit down. I think a scam like this should be brought to UA's (and other carriers, for that matter) attention.

The criminal could merely tear off the barcode and find an excuse why it was ripped off.

Give this a try, and let us know how it works out. (Like when they see there's no bar code, they're really going to wave you through the gate reader without checking your reservation!!!!)

Well again, I haven't and will not try this for myself. But I believe when you allow passengers to print their own boarding passes it allows the potential for fraud.

Another use for fraudulent e-checkin
 

Just got off a flight where I was SSSS'ed. Never mind that a real terrorist wouldn't buy a one-way ticket and get S'ed, but suppose they did...

... all they'd have to do to avoid the additional scruitiny is fake a boarding pass enough to get past security (without the SSSS), then board the plan with their real boarding pass.

Yet another reason we shouldn’t be allowed to print BPs ourselves.

The fraud stops with getting through security and bypassing secondary screening.

Bottom line is that all airlines reconcile boarding passes with reservations in order to get an accurate passenger manifest. So even if they tear it off and wish you well, but it is reconciled before the plane leaves. Ever noticed a gate agent pick up a stack of stubs from the boarding agent??? And a seat dupe will be investigated as well.

The only loophole is if you know someone with a reservation that is going to no show for a flight and you create a bogus boarding pass, encode the barcode with their PNR, and use up their ticket. But you may as well have just used a fake ID to check in as that person.