Easyjet "stowaway"

[newswatcher]

From the BBC(16/5):

"An airline is considering legal action against a woman who boarded a flight without a valid ticket.

Suzanne Brady, 19, boarded flight EZ619 to Belfast from Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

She was discovered on the plane when the Easyjet flight crew carried out a final head count.

The delay caused the evening flight to be cancelled and many passengers, including Miss Brady and her family, were put up at a nearby hotel.

Bosses at Liverpool John Lennon Airport began an investigation into the incident, which took place on Monday evening.

A spokeswoman for Easyjet alleged Miss Brady's family caused a distraction at the departure gate to enable her to board the plane.

"We have a zero tolerance policy to this sort of behaviour and we are considering prosecuting her under the Navigation Act," the spokeswoman said

Miss Brady's family, who live on the Poleglass estate in Belfast, denied causing a distraction and insisted she was not trying to sneak on to the flight.

Her mother, Kathleen Brady, said: "It is absolute nonsense.

"We booked five tickets at the same time and Suzanne's was booked separately.

"A friend booked it for her and it seems there was a mix-up and she was booked on to the 0900 BST flight coming back instead of the 2100 BST flight.

"People were looking at us as if we were terrorists or something.

"We want to set the record straight."

[srs what?]

"A friend booked it for her and it seems there was a mix-up and she was booked on to the 0900 BST flight coming back instead of the 2100 BST flight."

So is it standard practise to be allowed to check-in more than 12 hours in advance?

[Konkordski]

So is it standard practise to be allowed to check-in more than 12 hours in advance?


Doesn't say that she did, does it?

From the report it sounds to me like she's turned up for a 9pm flight (at normal check-in time - the report says 'evening') only to find that her mate's booked her accidentally on the 9am flight (already long gone hours before).

Before anyone rushes to judge, some people aren't used to using the 24-hour clock when booking flights themselves on the Net.

I've previously managed to accidentally book myself on an 8am Ryanair flight instead of an 8pm one, simply 'cause my brain said "8 o'clock in the evening" instead of "20 o'clock" while I was clicking away. Very, very easy to do.

Not condoning any wrongdoing here, if there was any. But at the same time I hope people will resist jumping immediately into "airline is always right, dumb passenger is always wrong" mode.

[Globaliser]

If she was at the airport at the wrong time for her flight (whoever's fault that was) you would have thought that somewhere along the line the airline and the airport would have noticed.

Check-in - reservation in her name for that flight?
Issue boarding pass - surely only if she was being checked-in for a reservation they'd found for her?
Security - well, did she or did she not have a boarding pass to be allowed through security, and for which flight?
Gate - did the boarding pass get read properly? (Does EZY have those reusable plastic thingies?)

Very odd. I'm sure we will hear more details in due course.

[PAXboy]

Globaliser - you raise the relevant questions.

A) If she got that far without a boarding pass, then she was probably trying something on and the staff failed until the very last check.

B) If she had a pass but for the wrong flight - the staff failed.

She may well have made an error and she may well have been trying to get on for free but - either way - for her to have got onto the a/c, the staff failed.

If they prosecute, they will show up their own failure, irrespective of what the accused woman may or may not have done.

Yes, EZY do use plastic numbered cards. On check in you get a resusable card and the sequence number is entered to the computer. When you hand in the card, the number is entered to show that you have reached that point. It is cheaper than paper and is supposed to make it easier for pax to know where they are in the queue.

So ... then they don't read the number on the card until they are stopped by the desk agent and it is pointed out that they called numbers 01-30 and this is card 130. At this stage, some protest. When staff are tired, I have seen them let them through rather than argue. Understandable but irritating.

[ck4707]

[QUOTE]"An airline is considering legal action against a woman who boarded a flight without a valid ticket. [/QUOTE

Local radio and press here on Merseyside originaly reported this story by stating that a passenger breached security by boarding WITHOUT a ticket.

It has now changed to being without a VALID ticket.

Another case of facts getting in the way of a good story???

[Konkordski]

Another case of facts getting in the way of a good story???



Again, not necessarily. Why must you instantly blame the reporter before you know exactly what he/she was told by his/her source?

You should hear some of the "official" versions of stories which are given to me by airline and airport spokespeople.

Sometimes it's not their fault - stories change and develop as facts emerge, often long after the initial events. Other times, it's simply blatant lies designed to spin things in their favour.

[Bumz_Rush]

I think the point here is that the airline/airport security and procedures are to be blaimed. Even if she did create a distraction, what would OBL do.....

[Gaza]

At most Airports this would be easy to achieve. At EDI for example this is how I could do it:-

Buddy and I check-in for easyJet flight. We get two boarding passes. At EDI these are proper ATB type passes, not the reuseable plastic things that easyJey used to use. Once in the departures area I take my mates boarding pass and exit to arrivals. I then give mate number 2, mate number 1's boarding pass. Both and I and Mate number 2 go back through security.

In the original article is says the family caused a distraction at the gate. Mate and I could do a similar thing and let mate 2 slip through. It may get picked up on the headcount or it may not.