When I was in elementary school we had some group project that I can’t remember anything about except that I was tasked with making pretend plane tickets for the whole class. I had a ball! My father traveled a lot for work at the time, so I had a model paper ticket to work off of and diligently strove to get the look right in my handmade replica. For all the kids reading: not to age myself (this is aging myself), but all plane tickets were print-only back then. Plus no smartphones or laptops, just a primitive shared home computer that I was not even using for schoolwork yet.
I’m sharing this little anecdote of my youth because last month some guy boarded a United Airlines flight at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, hoping to stowaway in the bathroom for the three-and-a-half hour trip from Houston to LA. Why not simply take his seat? Because he (allegedly) faked the ticket. Another passenger reported him to a flight attendant before take off, which led to a three-hour delay. The man was just charged last week, and the court documents reveal more details of how he made it all the way onto a plane with a fake boarding pass.
The 25-year-old Houston man … was charged last week with impairing or interrupting operation of critical infrastructure facility. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney Monday.
Surveillance cameras showed the man first having trouble with his boarding pass at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint when he arrived at the Houston airport early on May 18, according to a criminal complaint.
He was eventually screened at the checkpoint and then tried to board a different flight to LA, but he was turned away when he tried to scan his pass, the complaint said.
About two hours later, the man went to another gate and waited until United employees who were checking boarding passes became distracted, the court document said. He then pretended to show his pass, walked by the employees and boarded the plane, the complaint said.
TSA said in a statement that the man first presented a valid boarding pass and went through standard screening and did not have any prohibited items. It referred other questions to Houston police and United Airlines. United referred all questions to law enforcement.
Once onboard the flight, the man tried to find a seat before going into a bathroom and a passenger noticed and told a flight attendant, the complaint said. He gave the flight attendant a fake name and then it was discovered he was not a passenger on the flight, the court document said.
Everyone on the flight had to get off the plane while it was checked for explosives, delaying its departure by three hours, the complaint said.
A United employee later told authorities the man had made a reservation, but it was canceled because he did not pay for it, the court document said.
He did show Houston police a confirmation number on his phone and what looked like a boarding pass, but a United employee told authorities the pass was fake and could not have been obtained without payment, the complaint said.
Can I just say up front, I love how all the agencies are directing questions — to the other agencies. It’s that kind of pass-the-buck behavior that makes this improbable story seem possible. Seriously, how did so many checkpoints fail?? How could TSA think the boarding pass was valid, while United was able to flag it correctly as a fraud? Or am I just totally naive about how easy it is to manufacture a fake airline ticket with today’s technology? If an Australian airport can go into a full lockdown over a bomb scare of what turned out to be a laser hair removal device, why can’t American airports immediately recognize the difference between real and fake tickets? A local news station had some footage of the man in court, with his lawyer claiming his defense is “He just thought he was buying a cheap ticket!” Sure Jan, Esq. Only, then why did he give a fake name to the flight attendant if he thought his ticket was legit? Soooo many questions…
Photos credit: Henry Siismets on Unsplash, Mauricio Moreno on Pexels
Oh boy. I am in aviation, so I can well imagine the finger pointing. I recently did an intrusion test for a small airport site and they wouldn’t accept it on a technicality. I was able to gain access through the office instead of the warehouse as the counter wasn’t secured. I was in the warehouse undetected for over 20 mins and left with a box. My argument was an intruder is nealy always going to use the path of least resistance! But our national authority will only accept intrusion tests via warehouses. So everything is oriented to the national authority instead of reviewing actual security data and trends of say, insider theft or whatever.
Wow. This reminds me of a quote from World War Z: Most people don’t believe that something can happen until it already has. That’s not stupidity or weakness. That’s just human nature.
Also: how can he have a reservation begin with if it wasn’t paid for?
“Sure Jan, Esq.” Lololol
As a lawyer, this was also my favorite phrase, and I might just steal it for later usage. !!
He’s an idiot. He should not have “attempted to find a seat” until just before takeoff, when everyone would already be seated and he would be able to easily see which seats were empty. Rookie error. 😀
How did so many checkpoints fail? Because the TSA is just a security theater government jobs program and I will die on this hill.
For context, has there been anything going on, anything at all, that could have contributed to difficult working conditions for TSA employees and contractors over the last 12 months?