3 ms·

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?
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    On international flights, if an airline transports somebody who is rejected by the destination for not having the proper visas etc, they are heavily fined. So airlines are strongly incentivized to triple-check passengers and their documentation.
    - kube-system 3y ago
      That's not a concern with a domestic US flight. If that's the reason why checking ID's is 'worth it', then it's not worth it.
  - shmeeed 3y ago
    Worth it as in there's literally no cost to doing it and it prevents unidentified people from boarding. As funny as I find the anecdote, I would prefer any airline knowing who's on my plane. Wouldn't you?
    - coldpie 3y ago
      Not really, no, it's just one more thing to go wrong and for me to have to dig out of my pockets. I'm happy for things to move along more efficiently, airplane processes are slow and annoying enough as it is. I don't care if some other guy got on the wrong flight, intentionally or not. That's his business.
freetanga 3y ago
Unless the ticket was bought by a stolen identity and then the boarding pass handed over to a person on a terrorist watchlist who boards with his genuine, mismatching ID That could be another 9-11. Worth the trade off ?
- jrockway 3y ago
  I don't think the watchlists really do anything. Checking your ID against the boarding pass is just yield management for the airlines. (Compare the cost of a full fare economy ticket 45 minutes before the flight to what some desperate person would sell it to you for, knowing that they either use it or lose it.)
- WrongAssumption 3y ago
  They check id and boarding pass at security before entering the terminal.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The don't actually check boarding passes at security in the US in my recent experience. Though your ID may be tied to your ticket in the computer system in some manner.
- BobaFloutist 3y ago
  How did the person on a terrorist watch-list make it through security in the first place, and why wouldn't that work for the actual boarding?
fnordian_slip 3y ago
How do you get 2x? I'd say you slow down boarding by something between 0.00x% and 0.0y%, since it takes an extra couple of seconds to do that, at least with the German system. I'm intrigued about the system you are envisioning that creates the extra 100% delay.
exitb 3y ago
It's not like the plane is going to leave earlier if the queue is processed faster.
- cowsandmilk 3y ago
  Experience says otherwise; I routinely take use domestic flights that leave the gate early and take off early because they finished boarding early.
  - lupire 3y ago
    Maybe so, but that has nothing to do with the gate check-in. The bottleneck is at boarding the plane and seating. Passengers stand in line on the jetway after they check in at the gate. The only reason gatecheck is rushed is to reduce amount of staff-time required at the airport. It doesn't get the plane boarded more quickly.
  - anticensor 3y ago
    In Turkey, they are explicitly disallowed to do so, and has been the case even before 9/11, due to how Turkish transport licensure system works.
aenis 3y ago
Also, this assumes the checks are actually performed - which is a compute intensive operation for a human (names in various languages, etc). I once accidentally swapped passports with my wife, and we both boarded without questions. We dont share last names, and, of course, dont look much alike. Its bad security to rely on tired people doing annoying repeatable tasks where the risk of something going wrong is so low.

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?
- resolutebat 3y ago
  On international flights, if an airline transports somebody who is rejected by the destination for not having the proper visas etc, they are heavily fined. So airlines are strongly incentivized to triple-check passengers and their documentation.
  - kube-system 3y ago
    That's not a concern with a domestic US flight. If that's the reason why checking ID's is 'worth it', then it's not worth it.
- shmeeed 3y ago
  Worth it as in there's literally no cost to doing it and it prevents unidentified people from boarding. As funny as I find the anecdote, I would prefer any airline knowing who's on my plane. Wouldn't you?
  - coldpie 3y ago
    Not really, no, it's just one more thing to go wrong and for me to have to dig out of my pockets. I'm happy for things to move along more efficiently, airplane processes are slow and annoying enough as it is. I don't care if some other guy got on the wrong flight, intentionally or not. That's his business.

freetanga 3y ago

Unless the ticket was bought by a stolen identity and then the boarding pass handed over to a person on a terrorist watchlist who boards with his genuine, mismatching ID That could be another 9-11. Worth the trade off ?

jrockway 3y ago
I don't think the watchlists really do anything. Checking your ID against the boarding pass is just yield management for the airlines. (Compare the cost of a full fare economy ticket 45 minutes before the flight to what some desperate person would sell it to you for, knowing that they either use it or lose it.)
WrongAssumption 3y ago
They check id and boarding pass at security before entering the terminal.
- ghaff 3y ago
  The don't actually check boarding passes at security in the US in my recent experience. Though your ID may be tied to your ticket in the computer system in some manner.
BobaFloutist 3y ago
How did the person on a terrorist watch-list make it through security in the first place, and why wouldn't that work for the actual boarding?

fnordian_slip 3y ago

How do you get 2x? I'd say you slow down boarding by something between 0.00x% and 0.0y%, since it takes an extra couple of seconds to do that, at least with the German system. I'm intrigued about the system you are envisioning that creates the extra 100% delay.

exitb 3y ago

It's not like the plane is going to leave earlier if the queue is processed faster.

cowsandmilk 3y ago
Experience says otherwise; I routinely take use domestic flights that leave the gate early and take off early because they finished boarding early.
- lupire 3y ago
  Maybe so, but that has nothing to do with the gate check-in. The bottleneck is at boarding the plane and seating. Passengers stand in line on the jetway after they check in at the gate. The only reason gatecheck is rushed is to reduce amount of staff-time required at the airport. It doesn't get the plane boarded more quickly.
- anticensor 3y ago
  In Turkey, they are explicitly disallowed to do so, and has been the case even before 9/11, due to how Turkish transport licensure system works.

aenis 3y ago

Also, this assumes the checks are actually performed - which is a compute intensive operation for a human (names in various languages, etc). I once accidentally swapped passports with my wife, and we both boarded without questions. We dont share last names, and, of course, dont look much alike. Its bad security to rely on tired people doing annoying repeatable tasks where the risk of something going wrong is so low.