Originally Posted by
boardingpass
Well, if they are on a no-fly list, it is a matter of security!
To some extent yes, although for people allegedly there for terrorist reasons but with no previous convictions then if there isn't enough evidence to jail them then it is, in my view, an unacceptable infringement of their civil rights to ban them from flying "on a hunch". Clearly this doesn't apply to people who are on the list for a proven previous record.
Originally Posted by
boardingpass
it is a requirement that the name on the boarding pass matches the photo ID of the person, and the photo ID of the person matches the person's face. Airlines may differ on how they implement this. On my airline, my colleague at the gate will check the photo ID, and then the cabin crew at the door checks you've been through the normal passenger route in possession of a valid boarding pass (i.e. haven't jumped over the airport fence to get onto the apron or you're not an airside garbage man who's just been made redundant with a score to settle.) It also helps to ensure the pax manifest is accurate.
You might wish to point out to the people in your airline that in the days of "print your own" boarding passes there is one very crucial step missing:
No-one checks that the name on the boarding pass (which is trivial to manipulate before printing it at home) matches the name on the passenger manifest (i.e. the name in which the ticket was bought, which is where the checking against the no-fly list is done).
This is such a glaringly obvious hole that it renders the whole process useless for increasing security.
Again in the days of print your own boarding passes, your check at the door does NOT achieve what you say about people somehow getting there without going through the normal processes. The check that DOES achieve that to some extent is the headcount match against the manifest. But even then there is still a glaring hole in that if it is possible to get in that way then it is also likely possible that someone can get out that way, so two people can effectively swap on the airbridge. So again, the check at the door doesn't achieve anything much for security (although it does for revenue protection).