5 ms·

Pretty funny, and makes me think the ticketing system pretty much worked. Yeah he was able to get on the plane, but the system correctly flagged the second time

• campbel 3y ago
  Assuming the flight crew does a passenger count or checks seats that should be unoccupied, even a non-full flight would result in getting caught.
  • sandspar 3y ago
    Flight crew have other things to do then count 200-odd squirming people and are flight attendants supposed to memorize unoccupied seats or carry a clipboard up and down the aisles?
    • shmeeed 3y ago
      A head count is often done with a simple mechanical clicker by the flight attendants right at the plane's doors and/or during the check walk looking for seat belts and unstowed luggage during taxiing. It takes no additional time at all. Any pilot should have an actual count of the souls on board, it can become a question of life and death in an emergency situation. Would you want to be the one left behind trapped in a burning wreck because "all 200" passengers on the list have been declared clear of it - with the blind passenger taking your spot? I'm aware this is a made up scenario that probably would never occur even in the event. Take it more as food for thought why knowing the SOB might be more than unnecessary theatre. I'm really astonished by a lot of responses in this thread, seeing how people that are forced to take off their shoes while waiting in line ay the airport keep on defending willful negligence at seemingly every other point in the process.
      • campbel 3y ago
        Yes, having a full count of people on board seems like a low effort necessary action to be taking especially for emergency scenarios. I assume if the passenger count doesn't match the expected count, especially in the case of a double passenger scan it should flag a more extensive audit.
• mjg59 3y ago
  He was only discovered once the plane was taxiing, which doesn't sound like it pretty much worked - if the flight hadn't been full, he may well have got away with it.
  • fragmede 3y ago
    which is to say, this isn't the first time he's done that.
• csomar 3y ago
  Except in this case, it didn't? 1. The ID should be checked along (and preferably) before the boarding pass is scanned. Most airlines do this; so this is an oversight from the agent to "quickly" let people through. 2. The agent was also lazy to investigate the situation and just assumed it was a "computer glitch". Again, probably breaking procedure. This could have been worse but I wonder what's the point of all the security theater that the US goes through when simple security procedures are not strictly followed.
  • yareal 3y ago
    No one checks id on domestic flights in the U.S. at the gate.
    • csomar 3y ago
      That's my point. The ID is usually checked in other countries for internal flights. It's either a missing policy item or an oversight from the crew.
      • zeroonetwothree 3y ago
        It's not really worth the trade-off of slowing down boarding time by 2x just for the 1 in a million chance of someone sneaking onto a plane.
        • shaky-carrousel 3y ago
          It is worth in the rest of the world. And besides, I've been there and it's not 2x. Everyone has their ID ready and it just takes a glance to check.
          • kortilla 3y ago
            Worth it how?
            • 3y ago
• siva7 3y ago
  That's why ID's get checked at the boarding gate, so this trick wouldn't have been possible at many airports around europe at least. Not checking ID's seems somewhat irresponsible from a security perspective.
  • gambiting 3y ago
    It would have worked in Europe just fine because just like in US no one checks IDs on domestic flights. At least here in UK if you're flying inside the UK then no one looks at your ID at any point, you just need a ticket(flew like this literally last month, at no point has anyone asked me for any id)
    • sofixa 3y ago
      In France I've flown Paris Toulouse and they still check your ID at the gate.
      • gambiting 3y ago
        That's probably an airline thing though. I've flown Newcastle to Belfast and at no point anyone checked my ID, just the ticket, even at the gate.
        • lloeki 3y ago
          I've always been checked for id, even for local flights as well (SXB, LYS, ETZ, LIS, BCN, MLH/BZL/EAP). Airlines were Air France and EasyJet. MLH/BZL/EAP is fun because you kinda keep going back and forth across borders a few times as you walk around, and depending on where you "come from" the destination country can have slightly different requirements for entering upon arrival (which is checked at the gate on departure, I did get a random customs check on arrival once when crossing the swiss/french border). Not a problem on the happy path but could get hairy if you get into trouble I guess. I think in France it may depend on "plan Vigipirate" levels as well.
  • kortilla 3y ago
• ainiriand 3y ago
  Yeah at this point it is much easier to exploit human flaws than computer flaws.