Is this a potential security hole?

[t1grm]

Just asking out of curiosity really. Flying FR out of BRU yesterday. Printed pdf boarding pass. Scanned my boarding pass at the entrance to airside. Went through security (scanned boarding pass again at x-ray). Got airside and realised I'd left something in the rental car. Quick call to Hertz established they had found it. I had plenty of time before boarding so headed up to baggage reclaim and back out the airport to collect said item. Upon returning to departures I scanned my boarding pass at the entrance to airside for the second time and to my surprise it let me straight through. Same again at security. I was half expecting it to throw up an error and have to go to the supervisor to explain the situation. So my question is; what's to stop me printing off 5 or more boarding passes and using them to get other people airside? I appreciate they would have all gone through security and they would have never go on the plane (at least I hope not!) but, it still seems like a fairly big hole in security to allow you to potentially get people who are not flying and have no business being there airside.

[DaveReidUK]

it still seems like a fairly big hole in security to allow you to potentially get people who are not flying and have no business being there airside.

Not really.

Think about it. You on your own with your boarding pass might equally have no intention of flying, but be using it to get airside with evil intent.

That's why you and your bags get searched and x-rayed.

[ExXB]

... In a word, no.

And before you ask, if someone tried to use multi-printed boarding cards to get on an aeroplane the second, and subsequent, would be rejected.

There are lots of people, other than passengers, airside.

[Hotel Tango]

But a nice way for an organised gang to get thieves/pickpockets etc air side where passengers might be a little more relaxed?

[750XL]

If someone wants to get airside for the wrong reasons they can do so fairly easily - Think of cheap FR tickets for a few quid

[edi_local]

What's to stop a normal passenger pickpocketing? There is no need to create elaborate scheme to get airside in order to pickpocket someone.

I've heard of first hand accounts from ground staff (not in UK) about people who were caught booking low cost tickets and actually taking a flight purely to steal random bags and leave the airport with them. The only way to mitigate that is to force everyone leaving a bag reclaim hall to produce thier claim tag and match it up with the bag they have in hand, yet the only airports I've ever seen that practice adopted were Pyongyang, Havana and Santiago de Cuba.

[Cymmon]

Also Butuan City and Davao in the Philippines do bag tag matching.

[Basil]

Very good points.
As a long time pro aviator and traveller, I usually relax more, as HT said, when airside. Now I won't - thanks for the headsup.

[safelife]

In Frankfurt int’l you can walk from the curb side right into the baggage claim, pick anyones bag, and walk off again.

And regarding your bar code, what stops me from making a photo of that and boarding the flight using the photo of it on my phone​ ahead of you?

[Hotel Tango]

Your cabin bag isn't even secure in the bin above you. I was quite shocked and surprised to discover how many items are stolen in flight, especially in a dark cabin on long flights as the owner sleeps!

[DaveReidUK]

And regarding your bar code, what stops me from making a photo of that and boarding the flight using the photo of it on my phone​ ahead of you?

You mean until computer says "no" when the rightful owner of the boarding pass shows up and the :mad: hits the fan ? :ugh:

[750XL]

Our company INTAMs warn of a pickpocketing gang operating out of HKG the last year or so.

[Ian W]

You mean until computer says "no" when the rightful owner of the boarding pass shows up and the sh*t hits the fan ? :ugh:

This doesn't happen - or at least it didn't for me a few years ago when the airline screwed up on ticketing and provided me with tickets for transatlantic then onward flight. I had boarded the onward flight using my boarding pass from check in in Europe and was approached by another pax saying 'you are sitting in my seat' whereupon we both showed valid boarding passes for the same seat on the same flight only difference was the name. :rolleyes:

I think there is a trusting faith in the airline booking and ticketing systems that may be misplaced.

[750XL]

One of you had probably been seat changed but not re-issued a boarding card with the correct seat number, it happens.

[DaveReidUK]

This doesn't happen - or at least it didn't for me a few years ago when the airline screwed up on ticketing and provided me with tickets for transatlantic then onward flight. I had boarded the onward flight using my boarding pass from check in in Europe and was approached by another pax saying 'you are sitting in my seat' whereupon we both showed valid boarding passes for the same seat on the same flight only difference was the name. :rolleyes:

I think there is a trusting faith in the airline booking and ticketing systems that may be misplaced.

That's a different kind of c*ck-up scenario from the one we are discussing here.

we both showed valid boarding passes for the same seat on the same flight only difference was the nameNotwithstanding the seat assignment, your respective boarding cards would also have had a different barcode. That's how scanning your card gets linked back to your PNR and how the airline can make sure (for obvious reasons) that every passenger who has checked in, particularly with hold baggage, actually boards the flight.

So I see no reason to change my view that two passengers using the same boarding card wouldn't both get past the boarding card scan.

Of course if anyone want to prove me wrong, please feel free to try - next time you're travelling with a companion print out two copies of the same boarding card instead and let us know how you get on.

Just don't try it on a flight that you really have to make, as you might have a bit of explaining to do. :O

[Gauges and Dials]

I don't know about BRU, but generally, at the point you scan your boarding pass, there's also an employee who compares your face to the photo on your passport or ID card, and the name on your passport or ID card to the name on your boarding pass....

[T250]

In Frankfurt int’l you can walk from the curb side right into the baggage claim, pick anyones bag, and walk off again.

Always makes me laugh airports that allow public access to a supposedly airside area, baggage reclaim? :=

And on this topic, always intrigued me whether in fact, baggage reclaim is actually 'airside'. As pax have checked in baggage landside at check in, but they are now receiving it back airside... At least at all UK airports, baggage reclaim is very much airside as there is no public access. Yet pax could retrieve prohibited items from their checked bags... :ugh:

[Hotel Tango]

In Frankfurt int’l you can walk from the curb side right into the baggage claim, pick anyones bag, and walk off again.

Considering that you have to go past customs first I question that statement. It may perhaps be correct in regard to domestic travel.

[ExXB]

And on this topic, always intrigued me whether in fact, baggage reclaim is actually 'airside'. As pax have checked in baggage landside at check in, but they are now receiving it back airside... At least at all UK airports, baggage reclaim is very much airside as there is no public access. Yet pax could retrieve prohibited items from their checked bags... :ugh:

At UK airports to go from the baggage hall back into the terminal would require you to get pass the immigration desks. Perhaps on domestic flights but I don't think it is that easy.

You 'can' do it in Geneva, but you have a security checkpoint to get through.

[AndiFr]

Considering that you have to go past customs first I question that statement. It may perhaps be correct in regard to domestic travel.
No, even for international. There is a sign that non-passengers are not allowed to enter (its one way gates) and to exit you need to go through customs. A few years back there might hv been the loophole that if you only travel with handluggage you never go through customs. I had thr impression when I started to pay attention to that that there was a small change: on the way out (but before reentering baggage zone) there is a custom desk installed. I am not 100% certain about if the desk has not always been there.

[edi_local]

Always makes me laugh airports that allow public access to a supposedly airside area, baggage reclaim? :=

And on this topic, always intrigued me whether in fact, baggage reclaim is actually 'airside'. As pax have checked in baggage landside at check in, but they are now receiving it back airside... At least at all UK airports, baggage reclaim is very much airside as there is no public access. Yet pax could retrieve prohibited items from their checked bags... :ugh:


EDI domestic baggage reclaim is fully open to the public. I am sure GLA used to be up until recently too. There is no chance EDI could actually enclose domestic baggage reclaim because to do so would then mean people couldn't access the jet2 check in area. It's a poor design, always has been and now, seemingly, always will be.

[T250]

The process at LHR and LGW is, and has been for decades, to arrive in the following sequence:

- Land at gate
- Walk to immigration or 'passport control'
- Enter baggage hall
- Clear customs

Then you're landside.

[Hotel Tango]

Not all but many airports treat baggage reclaim from domestic flights differently than international flights. Again there are exceptions such as Atlanta and a few other U.S. airports for instance. There, once you have completed the immigration and customs process and your final destination is Atlanta, your suitcase will be taken away from you and travel separately for collection at the main terminal. This is so that passengers don't clutter the terminal transit system with all their baggage. Consequently, although you arrived on an international flight, your suitcase will now arrive on a belt completely accessible to the public. They at one time did tag checks, but that is no longer the case.

[Wot No Engines]

World wide, most domestic baggage claims are open to the public. Many countries also permit non-travellers through security. QF used to permit club members to use their lounges when not flying. In a number of countries, it's possible to get on a flight never having shown ID. It got worse with online checkins.

[edi_local]

I've taken commercial domestic flights in NZ, Iceland and the UK where there there had been no security or ID checks whatsoever all in the last few years. They were not what you'd call major routes, but they were still either from or to large airports.

[T250]

Thought the likes of easyJet and Ryanair always insist upon some 'form' of photographic ID for their domestic flights? Unsure on the others, maybe they don't, BA, Flybe etc.