PPRuNe Forums - selling uniforms on the web

sometimes I wonder on the way security is handled nowadays.

A former Cathay employee allegedly sold her uniform on ebay.

Several people and agencies voiced their concerns believing the uniform could be used to gain access to sensitive areas on airports.

Do you consider it an actual threat or is it just overreacting to post 9/11?

p.s. I found more details on the case:

Former flight attendant sells uniform on the net

Hong Kong -An Australian-based former Cathay Pacific stewardess was today
selling her
uniform over an internet auction site, breaching security guidelines aimed
at
preventing them from getting into the wrong hands.

The ex-employee, based in Melbourne, has posted pictures apparently of
herself modelling the Cathay Pacific unitven people from Summer Beaver and
form on
online auction site eBay. Her face is blanked out on the photographs and she
is
identified only by her seller's code number.

The uniform has been on the e-bay site since last week and, after an initial
bid of $A155, attracted a top bid of $A370. The online auction ends later
today.

The former stewardess has also sold a variety of other Cathay Pacific items
on the same website in recent months, including two cabin crew badges and
even
an Airbus flight manual meant for crew which she sold for 10 US dollars.

In her entry on eBay advertising to sell the uniform, she describes herself
as a resigned staff member. She says the uniform is a spare one only worn a
few
times and in mint condition.
The sale of the uniform over the internet is a clear breach of Cathay
Pacific's staff rules which stipulate that any employee leaving the company
must
return all uniforms and security passes to the company.

An airline industry insider who spotted the uniform on the online auction
site said: "This must raise security issues for Cathay. If someone got hold
of
this they could impersonate flight staff and maybe get into secure areas of
the
airport or onto a plane."

Cathay's manager of corporate communications Rosita Ng Lai-ting, however,
stressed that anyone who got hold of the uniform would not be able to access
secure areas of the airport or passenger planes without security passes.

"We are trying to follow this up as we like to retrieve any items belonging
to the company," she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). "Once a member of
staff resigns, it is company policy for them to return the uniforms."

"A uniform is only part of the way of identifying Cathay staff. It would not
enable you to access any restricted area. You need an electronic pass to get
into Cathay City (the airlines secure staff area at Chek Lap Kok airport).
Passes are deactivated as soon as staff leave the company."
http://www.theage.com.au/