It apparently doesn’t take much these days to slip past both TSA agents and airline employees onto an airplane. The story of one Delta stowaway in Orlando is a reminder that our many layers of security may still fall short.
I first wrote about this story last October. A 3o-page TSA investigation report was issued and has just been released to the Orlando Sentinel after a Freedom of Information Act request.
How A Woman Slipped Past TSA And Gate Agents To Board Delta Flight
Our story takes place at Orlando International Airport. The woman, Sylvia Rictor, showed up at the TSA checkpoint with a JetBlue baggage receipt she had found on the ground in the baggage claim area.
A TSA agent informed her that a baggage receipt would not get her through the security checkpoint and directed her toward Terminal A, where JetBlue operates from.
30 minutes later, she returned to the same checkpoint. This time, she gracefully pivoted around two families and bypassed the desks where agents were checking IDs. As the internal TSA found, she “used the groups of people to hide her.”
After clearing security (yes, she was screened), she approached Gate 71, where a Delta flight to Atlanta was boarding. She lined up with wheelchair passengers and again gracefully just walked right past the boarding desk.
A gate agent letter told investigators:
“I approached the woman that went around and asked if she had been scanned and she stated yes she had. I assumed she was with the wheelchair passenger and then allowed her to board.”
Never ass/u/me
An Onboard Mistake Dooms Delta Stowaway
Onboard, the passenger took a seat but was later confronted by the actual passenger assigned that seat. Rather than get up and search for another open seat, the woman claimed it was her seat and she had just lost her boarding pass. This interaction occurred after the flight had pushed back and was taxiing to the runway. It’s not clear why the seat discussion occurred after the flight had departed.
Alerted to the issue, the flight crew determined to return to the gate where all passengers were de-boarded then re-screened. The woman, who refused to provide her real name, was escorted off the airport premises.
Officials later identified her using facial recognition software and noted that she has a history of mental illness. For her part, when questioned she said, “I don’t know what else to say but don’t blame me everything falls on your … security.”
CONCLUSION
I don’t get worried by stories like this…in these cases the passengers always go through actual screening and are probably harmless in the first place. But it highlights just how (relatively) easy it is to sneak onto an airplane, even in 2020.
> Read More: Woman Evades TSA And Delta To Board Flight Without ID Or Ticket
image: Delta
It is amazing to me that someone can sneak past a TSA agent and a gate agent. How do such things go unnoticed? What about the folks sitting behind the security cameras at the TSA checkpoint?
So what? People don’t need ID to vote despite votes influencing the direction of the country and affecting lives. Why should we need ID to fly, to open a bank account, to enter a college, or enter a federal courthouse. Why do we need ID to buy alcohol?
Sounds like another poor attempt to suggest voter fraud is actually a thing…news flash, it’s infinitesimally small and has no real impact (save for the Republican cheat in NC-9)
You are poorly informed. 10 states, red ones, require ID to vote at the polls. My state does not require ID, but if I didn’t receive my ballot, I would definitely call to make sure I get my vote and to make sure someone didn’t steal mine. That has never happened in my 35 years of voting. Inconceivable that there is widespread voter fraud, especially for multistate federal elections.