I Need to Vent

I don’t know how many of you have flown recently, but I have, and I can tell you that it’s a pain in the rear to get through “security.” I put that in quotes because it seems more and more obvious to me that the system is less about security and more about business than many people realize.

For example, we have to present a photo ID to get through the security checkpoint. This is supposedly to check for passengers that are on the “no-fly” list. After just a little research, though, you’ll find that it’s really because the airlines wanted to shut-down the market for reselling tickets and the only way to do that is to make sure that your name is the same as the one on the ticket/boarding pass.

And how about liquids and gels? It’s just ridiculous the rules that are in place over this, and every halfway intelligent human being knows that the driver behind this can’t really be security. It doesn’t even make good sense to think that it’s about security when I can take a completely full three ounce bottle of gel through security but I can’t take a virtually empty four ounce bottle through. There’s no real evidence to support this that I’ve seen, but I would still argue that the driver behind this is getting more checked bags. Why would the airline want more checked bags? That seems like it would cost them more as they have to pay for people to handle those bags. On the other hand, I’ve recently seen some data from DFW that would indicate that a big factor in paying overtime is the timeliness of flights. How much more timely does it make a plane when you don’t have to wait for 200 people to stuff and cram their bags into an overhead bin?

The thing that really takes the cake about all of this is the recent reports of the FBI seizing Christopher Soghoian’s computer and other belongings (rumor has it that he had some hair gel and toothpaste that were over the legal limit). You might not have read about Mr. Soghoian, but he created a website that allowed users to print fake boarding passes for Northwest airlines with any name and any flight printed on them. Now, I don’t agree with Mr. Soghoian’s method of getting the word out, but this guy is really exposing a fatal flaw in the design of our computer system.

And don’t say that the issue is allowing passengers to print boarding passes from home. That’s a value add that helps both the passenger and the airline. Unlike other concerns, I’m sure that we can resolve this without having to restrict customers more than they already are.
When you go through the initial security checkpoint, all that is looked at is the name on your ID and on your boarding pass, and when you get on the plane all that is scanned in the boarding pass which compares the pass to the information in the computer. So basically, there are three places that information is stored but they are never all checked against one another. Many others have written on this as well, and we all agree that in our current world it would be very easy to get through security with a fake boarding pass and then get on the plane with a real boarding pass that’s in someone else’s name. There goes the whole point of the “no-fly” list.

Terrorists still fly wherever they want, whenever they want, they just don’t buy tickets in their own name and no one checks. I think the solution is pretty simple, though. Why not just have the security inspector visually check your ID just as they do now and then have them also scan the boarding pass? Suddenly, the security flaw disappears, Mr. Soghoian has to find a new hobby, and terrorists have to stay on the ground.

Why are we after Mr. Soghoian and essentially shooting the messenger instead of fixing this problem?