LHR Security Breach Again!!!

[bealine]

In yesterday's news (25:11:02) it was reported that a woman had been checked in and actually got on to a US bound flight before it was discovered she'd got her husband's passport by mistake. (It was the passenger that alerted the staff to the situation, otherwise she would have travelled!)

British Airways have promised they will hold a "Full Investigation"

What they mean is that a check-in agent will be sacked or demoted to ease their consciences!

I'm sorry to report that the ever vigilant Bealine may have missed a passport error or two in recent months - the workload now is far too high, even on quiet days. I'm glad, in a way, this has happened, because it'll sharpen my focus for a few weeks!

I wonder how many of our customers are aware that we often remain on check-in desks for 4 to 5 hours continuously. European or UK desks become "passenger processing conveyors" and "Customer service" just flies out of the window once your throat becomes dry and the VDU induced headache and nausea begins! Could you remain 100% alert under these conditions?

In addition, we have Internet and Telephone Check-In which, useful though they are, encourage us, the staff, to drop our guard! Indeed, we even use terms like "Fast Bag Drop" to pressurise the staff into working at 90 mph!

I'm afraid BA Management must take full responsibility for our security breaches as well!

:mad:

[Globaliser]

Wouldn't be fair to blame one check-in agent alone. What about the passport check at the gate?

The inference I would draw is that this "lady" looks awfully like her husband. You know, like they say about dogs and their owners. (I make no comment as to which way round this should be as far as this pax was concerned.)

[bealine]

To be fair, Globaliser, the passport check at the gate is only a very cursory glance to ensure the name matches that on the Boarding Pass and that there is a vague resemblance to the photo. (The basic reason for this check is to ensure you're leaving with the same passport you showed at check-in!)

It's getting tougher now that these stupid machines let you check in without showing your passport, throwing all the responsibility on to the Gate where the staff are under severe time pressure. (I have even had a Dispatcher telling me to dispense with passport checks to get the passengers on board more quickly.)

Given all the changes of hair style/colour, facial hair, sex changes, gender bending, passports that have been bent out of recognition, smudged pictures etc, a woman travelling with her husbands passport may very well pass the test!

Personally, I always ring HM Immigration if I have a tattered passport (mutilated ones are invalid) or a smudged photograph (Petty France or an overseas Embassy should not have issued the document). However, HM Immigration are usually about as much use as an airscrew without blades - last time they sent a representatitive who couldn't even speak English!!!

I'm afraid the "BA Investigation" will be its usual farce, and those managers who can't see beyond "how can we pile more pressure on the front-line" that are truly responsible will escape with their "J" class travel perks untouched!

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[J-Class]

Don't knock the self-service machines and internet check-in - they are IMHO one of the best customer service improvements for a decade, enabling pax to avoid the horror of queueing and having to deal with stressed-out staff (such as the estimable bealine). Call me a terrible old misanthrope, but generally the fewer airline employees I have to interact with between origin and destination, the less there is to go wrong, and the happier I am! (The only slight negative is that this means very limited chance of upgrade as no possibility for staff to check my SFU dress code on the day).

This does, of course, mean that the passport check at the gate is critical - but I think that the gate staff already give my passport a longer check if I am travelling with an e-ticket.

Of course accidents will happen - so I would advocate making the boarding card check at security at LHR a combined passport and boarding card check, as it is at most European airports (and as it was at LHR until not so long ago), thus sharing the security check between the airline staff and professional security staff.

[J-Class]

I'm amazed that this topic has been moved to the pax forum - security on flights isn't of interest to the pilot community, then?

[PaperTiger]

Being in possession of the wrong passport or even a fake one, is not in and of itself a 'security' issue. Particularly to the country of exit. Of course these things should be checked, and there ought to be a problem at the destination immigration (but apparently wasn't).

In terms of risk to the flight, which is worse - a 'valid' passport holder with concealed weapon(s) or this woman ? The S-word is in very real danger of losing impact due to runaway overuse, if that is not already the case.

[PAXboy]

bealine: "I have even had a Dispatcher telling me to dispense with passport checks to get the passengers on board more quickly."

I am not surprised, since LHR still likes to board a 744 one-person-at-a-time through ONE door. I can only presume that it is to save on staffing costs that the second gangway sits idle.

It has been single door at LHR for a good number of years and how anybody thinks they can turn a wide-body around quickly whilst using one door for off loading and then one door for loading. :rolleyes:

We always used to board through two doors. When the A380 arrives, they are going to have to do something serious!

[Globaliser]

In my experience, the self-service check-in machines print your boarding pass in a lurid shade of red, so there's no possibility that a half-awake gate agent will miss the fact that the identity check's got to be done properly for the first time at the gate! And if you internet check-in and pick up your boarding pass from a live person then a proper passport check is done then.

J-Class: Bealine actually started this topic here, it didn't get moved. I doubt that anything ever gets moved to the fora at the top of the list.

[Departures Beckham]

Being in possession of the wrong passport or even a fake one, is not in and of itself a 'security' issue

If looked at from a different perspective, being in possetion of the 'wrong' boarding card is. On UK departing flights a passengers bags are only carried if the passenger is also travelling on the same aircraft (unless two seperate security checks have been conducted on the baggage). Therefore a passenger using someone else's boarding card means that the bags of a passenger not travelling will be carried - hence a security risk. Although you may not think anyone will be stupid enough to use someone else's boarding card, it would be very easy to switch them when paying in a duty-free store or a cafe.

"Passengers are reminded not to leave their boarding card unattended at any time - unattended boarding cards will be removed and may be destroyed"

[bealine]

Being in possession of the wrong passport or even a fake one, is not in and of itself a 'security' issue

I beg to differ on this one!!! I can think of no valid reason why someone should legitimately carry a wrong or fake passport. No airline would ever allow anyone to travel with incorrect credentials (whether by mistake or with some ulterior motive in mind). At the very least, the airline could cop a heavy fine from the foreign immigration authorities (failing to spot a fake is not acceptable) Indeed, anyone believing carrying (or uttering) a false document is not a security issue could, in some parts of the world, wind up dead! Britain tends to be quite liberal compared with many countries, although as an ex-soldier serving in Northern Ireland in the 1970's, (and, yes, I did drive a Green Goddess at the last Firemens' strike!) , I'm afraid we wouldn't have asked too many questions if presented with fake identities - not with our own lives at risk!

Long before 9/11, an English tourist was shot dead by US Immigration officials at the Canadian border because he didn't treat their scrutiny of his passport seriously!

[PaperTiger]

Semantic differences, bealine. Your definition of security obviously encompasses more than mine. If this woman had been flying to Manchester or Edinburgh then the fact she had the wrong passport would have been of no consequence. Ergo, no 'security' threat.

Cars crashing through the gates at KBHM is a security breach, having the wrong papers when boarding at EGLL is not, IMO of course.