Getting on the wrong plane

[sam_gordon]

How does this happen? Last week, heading home, and boarding a plane (Delta if that matters). Watching the people in front of me scan their BP then proceed down the jet bridge. Just as I'm about to step on the plane, there's a commotion in the line in front of me. A guy, who boarded about 5-10 people in front (so yes, I did see him scan at the gate) is coming off the plane.

He was supposed to be boarding the plane to Minneapolis, that was using the adjacent gate at the same time my flight (to Atlanta) was boarding.

Now, I'll cut the guy a LITTLE slack, he simply wasn't paying attention. BUT, how/why would the scanner give a "bing"/green light that he's good to board?

I want to test this and "accidently" call up a BP for one of my other flights that day, but that's not a good test because the system COULD scan and get my entire itinerary and know I'm supposed to be on that flight.

Random thought...

 

[MillauFr]

Yeah there is no way the scanner would have showed green for that.

 

[Donald Duck Family]

Yeah there is no way the scanner would have showed green for that.

I can attest that it can indeed show up green. Years ago I was flying to LAX for work. Our travel office booked all of my coworkers on one flight but me on a separate flight (same airline) that departed minutes later than the rest of my group. Since we were told we were all travelling together I did not pay close enough attention to the flight number. I scanned green on to the one flight only to find out later that I was actually on a different plane two gates over. Learned my lesson and have been more careful since then but you can indeed scan green onto the wrong flight.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Weird. I had a tight connection in LAX in Sept going to MCO and wasn’t paying close enough attention to notice my boarding pass said like 34B. I got to gate 34A, somehow completely missed all the monitors around me that said the flight was going to Chicago, scanned in and the thing made a super weird beep at which point the gate agent stopped me and told me I was not on that flight. So, at least UA at LAX has computer systems checking that sort of thing.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yeah there is no way the scanner would have showed green for that.

If the scanner didn't show green, that would mean the GA wasn't doing their job. Pretty sure the sound is different also.

 

[DebbieB]

That happened on a flight I was on. They were 1 person over after everyone boarded. They kept making announcements about where the plane was going but no one answered. Finally figured out it was a man who had headphones on and didn’t hear the announcements. There was a gate change and he was going to the original flight from that gate. Question is, how did he get on?

 

[StageTek]

A little scary that the system will allow a passenger with the wrong ticket to "beep" through.

But it seems it always gets caught during the head count.

 

[Simba's Mom]

How does this happen? Last week, heading home, and boarding a plane (Delta if that matters). Watching the people in front of me scan their BP then proceed down the jet bridge. Just as I'm about to step on the plane, there's a commotion in the line in front of me. A guy, who boarded about 5-10 people in front (so yes, I did see him scan at the gate) is coming off the plane.

He was supposed to be boarding the plane to Minneapolis, that was using the adjacent gate at the same time my flight (to Atlanta) was boarding.

Now, I'll cut the guy a LITTLE slack, he simply wasn't paying attention. BUT, how/why would the scanner give a "bing"/green light that he's good to board?

I want to test this and "accidently" call up a BP for one of my other flights that day, but that's not a good test because the system COULD scan and get my entire itinerary and know I'm supposed to be on that flight.

Random thought...

DH used to travel a lot and that happened. Lady sitting in the seat next to him said, "It's taking us a long time to get to Corpus Christi", which was her destination, but not the plane's. DH just hit the flight attendant's button, told the flight attendant "There appears to be a problem", then let her figure it out.
But the one he really wondered about was when he was seated, and this guy came along and said "You're in my seat!" Sure enough, same seat on his boarding pass, but different day. So he not only got on the plane with the wrong boarding pass, but also got through TSA screening, where they look at your boarding pass and appear to scrutinize everything. That's a Hmmmm!

 

[gottalovepluto]

… also got through TSA screening, where they look at your boarding pass and appear to scrutinize everything. That's a Hmmmm!

Is it really though?

 

[RedHead0186]

So he not only got on the plane with the wrong boarding pass, but also got through TSA screening, where they look at your boarding pass and appear to scrutinize everything. That's a Hmmmm!

TSA doesn't always look at your boarding pass anymore (or at least not in Pre-Check). Many airports now have machines that just scan your drivers license or passport. I'm assuming it matches you against their database. I thought it also matched against flight manifests to confirm you're flying that day, but maybe not?

 

[supersnoop]

But the one he really wondered about was when he was seated, and this guy came along and said "You're in my seat!" Sure enough, same seat on his boarding pass, but different day. So he not only got on the plane with the wrong boarding pass, but also got through TSA screening, where they look at your boarding pass and appear to scrutinize everything. That's a Hmmmm!

How do you get a boarding pass more than 24 hours in advance? Most of the "you're in my seat" issues are someone who's looking at the seat for their connection or their return flight, but they're on the correct plane.

 

[supersnoop]

I sat next to a person who was recovering from getting on the wrong plane. She was supposed to fly to Denver, but ended up in Austin. The scanner did, in deed, make a different noise, but the gate agent must have been too quick. He had already scanned the next two people and double checked their boarding passes. Mistakes can happen. This was on Southwest, so maybe it's more difficult with open seating. I've seen them count passengers to reconcile with how many people are supposed to be on the plane.

 

[DVC-Don]

On Southwest once a fellow in front of me while boarding was stopped by the gate agent when his pass gave a wrong tone. My plane was going to Albany, NY. He was supposed to board a a plane going to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

[LAS2AMS]

A couple erroneous comments. When your boarding card is scanned, the system "pulls" your electronic flight coupon and the computer system queues it up for redemption at the cleaning house. This is the point where the airline realizes the revenue from your ticket. If any of your details do not match what's in the computer system, the computer will alert the gate agent. The gate agent then has to manually clear you in the system. And yes, mistakes happen.

For example, you may be scheduled to fly from Orlando to Chicago to Omaha. Your flight to Chicago is delayed and space is reserved for you on a flight from Orlando to Denver to Omaha. You get a new boarding pass and everything looks right. But internally, the system hasn't changed the flight coupon. When you get to the gate, they have to override the system and after it's departed, contact support to change the coupon.

Many years ago I saw where somebody used a used boarding pass that they found from the flight the day before to get on the next day's flight... and in a hurry, the gate agent cleared the person by manually pulling the flight coupon from a passenger with a similar name. The person with a similar name was a dummy booking I created when teaching a bunch of new hires how to create a reservation . One of the higher ups called screaming at me, wondering why a dummy ticket was used. (My fault because it should've been deleted after training).

Anyway, my point is when people board the wrong flight it's most likely because the gate agent made an error... which is usually caught pretty quickly -- two people in the same seat, somebody else can't board b/c the flight coupon shows used, etc. And sometimes people board without scanning their boarding card. Obviously VERY rare and they generally get caught when somebody else is booked in the seat they're sitting in.

 

[Best Aunt]

My recollection is that years ago, there would be 2 employees working at the gate. The passenger would hand the paper boarding pass to one of the employees, and the employee would scan it.

Now, there may be just 1 employee at the gate, and the passengers scan their boarding passes themselves. I can see how the employee might not catch it since the employee does not have control over the scanning process.

 

[gottalovepluto]

My recollection is that years ago, there would be 2 employees working at the gate. The passenger would hand the paper boarding pass to one of the employees, and the employee would scan it.

Now, there may be just 1 employee at the gate, and the passengers scan their boarding passes themselves. I can see how the employee might not catch it since the employee does not have control over the scanning process.

?

@LAS2AMS (whose username checks out) just gave us the rundown on how exactly the system works. GA screwed up.

 

[Akck]

In Seattle, there’s one multiple-plane gate where you walk out to the tarmac to load onto your plane. I was on a plane where a passenger got in a line and boarded the wrong plane. They realized it when the FA announced where the plane was headed and promptly got off.

 

[georgina]

Thought of this thread when I read an article in the WaPo (probably behind a paywall but could google if interested) about a man who got on an SAS plane in Denmark and flew into to LAX with NO ticket and NO passport. He's not saying how. Alarming!

Ochigava told the FBI agents he had a PhD in economics and marketing, and worked in Russia “long ago.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/12/12/russian-man-flight-lax-passport-sergey-ochigava/

 

[Best Aunt]

Thought of this thread when I read an article in the WaPo (probably behind a paywall but could google if interested) about a man who got on an SAS plane in Denmark and flew into to LAX with NO ticket and NO passport. He's not saying how. Alarming!

Ochigava told the FBI agents he had a PhD in economics and marketing, and worked in Russia “long ago.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/12/12/russian-man-flight-lax-passport-sergey-ochigava/

I saw that story and also thought of this thread.

 

[gottalovepluto]

In Seattle, there’s one multiple-plane gate where you walk out to the tarmac to load onto your plane. I was on a plane where a passenger got in a line and boarded the wrong plane. They realized it when the FA announced where the plane was headed and promptly got off.

Years ago had that happen in DEN! They loaded the two planes at the same time and scanned the BP prior to entry so people walking down the boarding ramp together were going on 2 different flights. The FAs were glancing at BPs & saying over and over “this is the Fresno flight! Fresno! Going to Fresno!” including multiple loudspeaker announcements. Sure enough after everyone was boarded & they were still fussing over the count they made the umpteenth announcement about going to Fresno and some dude jumped out of his seat “I’m not going to FRESNO!!”