Getting on a plane without a ticket is not only obviously dangerous due to the legal consequences that this can have, but it is almost impossible. Or at least, it should.
Every once in a while, a new story comes out of someone trying to do it. The story of the latest case reminds us of the importance of protecting our boarding pass from other people’s eyes.
It was last March 17 when a man in Utah, United States, managed to enter a passenger plane despite not having a valid pass, using a somewhat curious ploy. The young man, 26 years old, did not last long in the cabin since the flight attendants caught him before the plane took off, but he almost got away with it.
The boy, named Fleurizard, arrived at the airport in Salt Lake City, capital of the state of Utah, to board a Delta flight to Austin, Texas. He managed to pass the initial security checks at the airfield because he was carrying a card known as a “buddy pass.” This is a special type of ticket called a “friend pass” that some airlines give to their workers.
They are free tickets (although sometimes you have to pay associated taxes) that can be used to fly as long as there is free space on the plane. That is, they do not guarantee the flight unless the airline has finally managed to sell all the seats on a trip.
It is understood that the young man obtained this buddy pass from an acquaintance or relative who works for Southwest airlines, with which he was able to reach the boarding area. However, when he got there, he found out that the plane was full. In this situation, what he did was take photographs with his cell phone of the boarding passes of other passengers without them realizing it.
Thus, Fleurizard managed to pass the last security check using the barcode of another passenger’s ticket, which he showed through his mobile phone. When he managed to get on the plane, he used another strategy to avoid getting caught, understanding that the seat associated with the ticket he had passed with would be occupied by the actual passenger. Faced with this, the man decided to hide in the bathroom and wait for everyone to board. Afterwards, he left the bathroom looking for somewhere free to sit (even though they had already told him that the plane was full).
It was here that the plan failed, and after hanging around the cabin without being able to sit down, the flight attendants realized that something was strange and stopped the takeoff. The plane returned to the gate and the man was arrested there. After being taken away by the police, the plane took off with a delay of half an hour. To officers, Fleurizard admitted that he had made a mistake and that he was just trying to get home.
Caution with ticket codes
No one in the terminal realized that the young man was photographing the barcode on other passengers’ boarding passes. It was the airport security cameras that did capture the moment, as can be seen in a video published on American television.
Good Morning America
@GMA
NEW VIDEO: New surveillance video appears to show the man taking pictures of other people’s boarding passes before he was allegedly able to board the Delta flight using another passenger’s ticket. ABC’s @Zohreen Shah has the story.
https://t.co/QgAX7wRgUQ https://t.co/HbyTASEF0M
April 12, 2024 • 20:29
fifteen
0
This anecdote reminds us of the importance of protecting the barcodes or QR codes included in many of the tickets used to travel by any means of transport today. It also highlights the human failures that can serve this type of trick: the boy made sure to board before the passenger from whom he stole the code, so that he could enter the plane without setting off the alarm, while the real passenger There was an error when showing your code. However, the airline manager assumed that it was a system failure and did not give it importance.
Furthermore, it must be taken into account that this may have occurred because it is a domestic flight within the US, for which it is not necessary to accompany the ticket with the identification document when boarding.
