Comment I've done this (Score 1) 86
Many years ago. Flew internationally with no ticket, boarding pass, or passport. Then, as now, the weakness in the system is people. Social engineering has always been a hugely successful vector for compromise. For example, I got past the gate staff by inundating them with questions about the plane, until they got annoyed and started intentionally ignoring me at which stage I could wander down the ramp.
Actually, my means of bypassing that final check (since there's so many ways one could conceivably get to air-side of an airport, the boarding gate is a vital security nexus) triggered a worldwide airport improvement to enclose the sides of the gate entry of international flights so that a passenger can't wander from the windows directly to the ramp behind the staff - they have to come around and walk directly between the staff. They're not as stringent for domestic gates, since carrying a passenger domestically without documentation is just the airline's loss. Carrying a passenger internationally without documentation triggers a whole range of problems to deal with and penalties for the airline.
I too was checked at security, although at that time there was no checking of documents at security. I understand commonly in many places at least the boarding pass is checked at security, in my part of the world the document check often comes at a separate point before security screening, and if one is able to bypass the document check, won't have a separate check at security screening. And that's still a weakness - there should be document verification at every point of ingress.
Several other people have achieved the same. Some by forging documentation, but by and large whenever this occurs, generally people are the weakness in the system that allows it. I'm not dismissing the culpability of those who do so, just mentioning this as a look at the security apparatus. We're doing mostly the right thing from the technical aspects of security, although in this particular instance it seems like a use case where AI could be deployed to identify tail-gaters as they happen.
Actually, my means of bypassing that final check (since there's so many ways one could conceivably get to air-side of an airport, the boarding gate is a vital security nexus) triggered a worldwide airport improvement to enclose the sides of the gate entry of international flights so that a passenger can't wander from the windows directly to the ramp behind the staff - they have to come around and walk directly between the staff. They're not as stringent for domestic gates, since carrying a passenger domestically without documentation is just the airline's loss. Carrying a passenger internationally without documentation triggers a whole range of problems to deal with and penalties for the airline.
I too was checked at security, although at that time there was no checking of documents at security. I understand commonly in many places at least the boarding pass is checked at security, in my part of the world the document check often comes at a separate point before security screening, and if one is able to bypass the document check, won't have a separate check at security screening. And that's still a weakness - there should be document verification at every point of ingress.
Several other people have achieved the same. Some by forging documentation, but by and large whenever this occurs, generally people are the weakness in the system that allows it. I'm not dismissing the culpability of those who do so, just mentioning this as a look at the security apparatus. We're doing mostly the right thing from the technical aspects of security, although in this particular instance it seems like a use case where AI could be deployed to identify tail-gaters as they happen.