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I've thought up this exact scam before while standing in line to board a flight and watching people being cavalier with their boarding passes. I suspect others
by waltbosz 3y ago
I've thought up this exact scam before while standing in line to board a flight and watching people being cavalier with their boarding passes.
I suspect others have successfully pulled it off before and this guy was the first to get caught because of a full flight.
My back seat driver solution: have cameras that takes a picture of the person presenting the boarding pass, the shutter is triggered by the pass scanner. If a pass is scanned twice, bring up the photo of the person who scanned it the first time and grab them. But it's a whole lot of tech to solve a problem that probably rarely happens.
- bayindirh 3y agoThere is a much simpler solution: check ID of the passenger, verify name & photo, plus take note of the seat number. If somebody comes with same seat number, investigate.
- sofixa 3y agoID verification already happens when flying in the EU, just to check you are who you say you are.
- bayindirh 3y agoI know, but our guys also double check that every seat checks in once, too. So, they associate seats with people, too.
- aenis 3y agoThats not universally true, probably not even mostly true. I must have taken a few hundred flights from Schiphol with KLM and was never id-checked on flights within Schengen. There are airports when checks are performed but far from all of them.
- lxgr 3y agoNo, this is generally up to the airline. (Some countries might be requiring it, but I haven't experienced that yet flying intra-Schengen.)
- prmoustache 3y agoSpain does most definitely.
- demondemidi 3y agoWhat if no seat numbers like southwest?
- bayindirh 3y agoWe don’t do that.
- proaralyst 3y agoOr you can check id at the gate
- troupo 3y agoNo idea why you're getting downvoted. They check ids at the gates in Europe (though very inconsistently, probably depends on the airline)
- anjel 3y agoBecause boarding a flight was already miserable enough
- IshKebab 3y agoThis doesn't really make a difference. You just show ID & boarding pass instead of just a boarding pass. You already have your ID on you. It's literally just a case of taking an extra thing out of your pocket. This is how it works in Europe and it never even crossed my mind that it could be annoying.
- troupo 3y agoIt's annoying because sometimes they don't check your ID :) It's also a bit annoying because you don't really add an actual document you really want to keep safe into the mix (and the rush)
- lostlogin 3y agoHere in NZ you don’t need ID. There is zero checking for domestic. Wonder how long until someone ruins that.
- miracle2k 3y ago> This is how it works in Europe and it never even crossed my mind that it could be annoying. I've taken many flights in Europe without id check, see also: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/180781/what-determines-when-an-airline-ask-for-id-at-boarding https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/180781/what-deter... It's not really a big deal if someone sneaks on board, therefore, no reason to burden millions of flyers every day with additional checks. Also, you may well not have ID on you. Maybe you don't like to carry it. Maybe you forgot your wallet. Maybe you don't even have one. Who cares?
- toast0 3y agoYou don't need that much tech. When the second copy of a boarding pass scans, you double check with that person, maybe there's a good reason (scanned pass, but had to leave the line for some reason). If it doesn't make sense, ask the flight attendants to audit seats. Also summon security. The suspect is on the plane and can't easily leave, presuming the real passenger is the one who presents second.
- abrookewood 3y agoBut the tech would have helped in this case: the flight attendent saw that the pass was already scanned, "assumed it was a glitch" and let the real ticket holder on. If that system showed a quick pic of the person who previously boarded, I doubt they would have done this.
- paul7986 3y agoPresent day TSA doesn't check boarding passes when going thru security just scan your license.
- criddell 3y agoThey do check that you have a boarding pass but they don't need you to present one. Your identification is all that's needed.
- lxgr 3y agoAs I understand it, the data is linked in the background in some airports, i.e. they just check if there's any boarding pass in your name (and presumably date of birth to disambiguate; most if not all airlines collect it nowadays) in the system.
- pxx 3y agoThey check for exactly one bp for the happy case. If it's zero or 2+, they ask for a boarding pass.
- 3y ago
- occamrazor 3y agoOn all flights I have taken the flight attendants count the passengers on board before taxiing and check the lavatories. This method wouldn't have worked even with available free seats.
- nyjah 3y agoJust had to go back to the gate the other day because the manifest didn’t match the count. I can see them overlooking this with flippant flight attendants, especially on smaller flights, but on my flight we were next in line for take off when they sent us back to the gate. So we almost made it to the sky. Also, I don’t know what happened, they checked one seat and then we were off. Missed connecting flight because of it.
- t0mas88 3y agoThis is also for weight and balance / performance calculations. If the calculations are done for 150 passengers and you count only 149 (or 151), you can't legally take off without new paperwork.
- globular-toast 3y agoThat just reminded me... This actually happened to me. I scanned my boarding pass to enter security at Heathrow and it didn't work. I had to a special desk and they had a picture of someone who had apparently already gone through security using my pass. I didn't recognise the face at all. I completely forgot about it until this moment. I guess I was allowed through after showing ID etc. At the time I probably thought it was a "glitch" but maybe someone photographed my pass? I'm always quite careful with stuff like that, though, so not sure.
- Zanni 3y agoSome international flights have face scanners at the gate. Not sure if it's to take a photo in the event of an issue or an actual scan and comparison against your stored ID, but the length of the process (a few seconds) suggests the latter.
- alistairSH 3y agoIt's some combo of the latter. It's been a few years, but the last time I went through Heathrow, my face was scanned at passport control (arriving from US) and then again at boarding (connection to Glasgow). The two photos didn't match enough and I was asked to stand aside while the gate agent figured out how to proceed (pull out passport for review). [at least that's my recollection of what happened]
- iLoveOncall 3y ago> My back seat driver solution: have cameras that takes a picture of the person presenting the boarding pass, the shutter is triggered by the pass scanner. If a pass is scanned twice, bring up the photo of the person who scanned it the first time and grab them. But it's a whole lot of tech to solve a problem that probably rarely happens. Or do what is done all over Europe, even for domestic flights: check the passport at the same time as the boarding pass at the gate.
- vladms 3y agoIn Europe all flights require you to show an ID at the gate. Usually they just throw a quick look (no big delay), but something like this is harder to pull off. Always amazed how much there is talk about "security" in US (TSA, border control, all 3 letter agencies, etc.) and then basic stuff is done a bit ... lax.
- CogitoCogito 3y agoThis isn’t true. I’ve flown many times within the EU out of Sweden without showing ID at any point in the process. Also if the security at the airport works, why would they need to see your ID anyway? Edit: see here https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-citizen/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-c... : > When do I need to show a passport or ID card? > You don't normally need to show your passport or ID when crossing the internal borders of the Schengen area. However, all Schengen area countries (see below) are allowed to reintroduce temporary border controls in extraordinary circumstances, for example, in case of a threat to public policy or national security.
- vladms 3y agoThis is not about borders. It is about the rules of the air company. Any place where the ticket is nominal can (and in my opinion should) ask for an ID. At least to prevent for example people hording tickets and reselling them.
- lxgr 3y agoSure, but in your comment above you claimed that this is already the case for all flights in Europe, which is just not true and different from your opinion that this is what ought to be happening.
- closewith 3y agoNo, no ID at all required generally for domestic flights within Schengen or the UK/Ireland CTA (but is between both). However, some airlines insist on passports, such as Ryanair.
- vl 3y agoIn US, quite often on international flights now they just use camera to scan you and let you in without even presenting the boarding pass. It’s not rolled out everywhere yet, but it’s pretty surreal to use.
- withinboredom 3y agoI wonder if they've ever heard about identical twins.
- olalonde 3y agoIdentical twins can just swap IDs as well so this doesn't introduce a security flaw that wasn't already there.
- withinboredom 3y agoit isn't the false-positives you'd be worried about, but the false-false-positives. IE, George and Bill are twins. George has booked a flight but the face scan says it's Bill trying to get on the plane.
- olalonde 3y agoThat's not how those systems work. They just try to see if the face on the camera matches the one associated with the ticket, same as what airline employees do. It is "match" or "no match". The system doesn't know nor care who Bill is.
- lxgr 3y agoThis would seem to only work with unsuspecting gate agents that assume that an "already boarded" message must be due to an accidental double-scan (which is presumably the cause 99% of the time), not somebody different already having boarded using a copy of that same boarding pass. One simple solution could be to show a different kind of warning for a double scan that's immediately repeated, and one that had at least one other pass scanned in between, requiring greater scrutiny.
- red_admiral 3y agoThe way it works in Europe is you scan the QR code, gate agent gets a green light and the name of the passenger, and checks that both your name and photo on your passport match.
- mulmen 3y agoIf it glitches just ask for photo ID. Why add all the complexity and inconvenience of taking a photo of every passenger when they’re already all required to have photo ID?