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The No-Fly List and Airport Security's Achilles Heel

A print-your-own boarding pass could be combined with credit card fraud to subvert the no-fly list. Are you concerned?

By Anonymous

Page 2

At this point, you may be asking, "Why is the boarding pass used as a part of authentication in the security screen process anyway?"

The answer is that an additional manual review of the boarding pass was introduced with the misguided thought that it would improve security. The boarding pass was originally designed by the airline for seat assignment and revenue accounting. The problem is that if you print a boarding pass at home, it is out of the airline’s control. Without that control, an airline screener and TSA staff have fewer means to detect a counterfeit document. A potential terrorist who can obtain a counterfeit picture ID can probably print a counterfeit boarding pass.

Until 9/11, some airlines, such as Southwest, did not even use boarding passes. Southwest, one of the few airlines to make money consistently, had determined the process was inefficient. Their seat assignment process used plastic pre-marked cards numbered 1 to 137 for the 137 seats on their Boeing 737-300. The plastic cards varied in color and boarding was in groups of 30. The result was reusable cards controlled by the airline: Less paper, a simple routine and every Southwest passenger understood the cattle call.

First used by Alaska airlines in 1999, most airlines have had online check-in since 2003. Usage runs from about 5 percent of eligible passengers at Delta, to 9 percent at US Airways, 11 percent at Northwest and 15 percent at AirTran. Some airlines have touted the process on their websites: In May, US Airways offered 1,000 free miles to passengers who printed their own boarding pass. Continental even allows customers to print boarding passes for international destinations. Experts expect online check-in will continue to grow to over half of passengers.

If no luggage is checked, you can print a boarding pass, go to the airport and queue to begin the security screening process. There’s no need to talk with any airline staff at all. So when the airline screener inspects the document, he is simply comparing the boarding pass and your photo ID. As long as everything looks authentic, he will highlight or initial the boarding pass. A bonus of printing your own pass is that you avoid the airline printing the dreaded SSSS symbol on your pass, marking you for extra security screening.

Of course, the final question is, "Will a counterfeit boarding pass actually get past security?" The answer is: Yes. Printed, a modified boarding pass can pass security checkpoints easily. Security personnel look at the documents but have no system to check their veracity. The name on the pass can be matched to the government-issued photo ID. The date, time, airport from and perhaps gate can be evaluated. But the pass itself cannot be guaranteed to be authentic because the printing process is not controlled.