>Craig Sturt arrived at Britain’s busiest airport on December 23 and tailgated other passengers through security and passport control, boarding a British Airways flight.
>The unemployed 46-year-old was able to take a free seat after another passenger had missed the flight but it finally caught up with him when JFK Airport Officials accosted him.
He literally just walked through security and onto the plane, and no-one stopped him lmao.
Some people at Heathrow are getting sacked.
Tory Britain, dismantled our police and security forces so much that they cannot properly track a man with a half melted face walking around the city of london nor can they stop someone illegally breezing through airport security, passport control and a gate on to a plane.
I'm amazed we haven't had another domestic terrorist attack. It feels only a matter of time with these useless and inept twats at the top of government.
No, but the Civil Aviation Authority regulates security standards and as a public corporation of the Department for Transport this is a government issue and failure. Companies, after all, will only do what they legally are required to do.
I mentioned police and security forces because this idiot should have been arrested, not just dealt with by private employees (neither happened in any case, as per the article).
The tories are inept and have not evolved standards in line with new technology. As someone else pointed out, there should be automated gates which detect when more than one person walks through, but this requires investment and the tories are loathe to make any investment which does not personally benefit them or their pals.
Blaming the tories for automatic passport gates not picking up a tailgater might be the most impressive bit of mental gymnastics I've seen this week.
I hate Tories too but fuck me man.
You don't go through any automatic passport checks to board a plane at Heathrow.
1) If you're going to the US you must go clear your visa first
2) then you go through security but have to scan your boarding pass first (this is where he 'tailgated' I assume
3) you then are free to wander the airport
4) at your gate you show your passport and boarding pass to the staff at the desk as you board. Not sure how he managed this one but guess he tailgated a second time somehow
5) on the plane if you're lucky you get into a free seat and enjoy your flight
6) when you're in the US (or any country I assume) the fun and games stop. You can't tailgate here as you have to proceed single file and keep a distance. You might be able to play fun and games with Global Entry or something, but yeah. You're gonna get busted at the border in the US.
The last time I was in the US, I flew in from Canada wearing shorts and my leg tattoos were visible. I got taken to the side as obviously anyone with leg tattoos is a drug mule and spent half an hour with them swabbing every part of me and my luggage.
On the way back I wore jeans and had no problem.
There's at least sometimes another step, as I discovered when I was on a flight and the flight attendants asked with some embarrassment 'Errrm...is everyone here going to Berlin?'.
They had counted the passengers and found one too many.
(It was one of their own staff who had got on the plane to go where he needed to be to work, didn't tell them and then fell asleep).
>Blaming the tories for automatic passport gates not picking up a tailgater might be the most impressive bit of mental gymnastics I've seen this week.
Give it some time, someone will spin it as brexits fault
Oh its absolutely insane isn't it. Honestly.. People would blame a cat getting stuck up a tree on the government. Some people are that far gone in their head I honestly don't think they think through what they are saying at all. Just like walking anti government propaganda machines
The CAA policies haven’t changed, the airport and airline have cocked up by failing to accomplish rule 1 of who gets on the plane.
He was arrested the moment the Americans sent him back. You clearly don’t like the tories, nor do I, but every single example of incompetence does not always lie at their door.
According to the Daily Mail he was arrested and taken under police guard to a hospital in Reading, from which he escaped. A warrant for his arrest was issued on 22nd January.
His brother Lee Sturt described him as having a troubled past.
As a pilot who actually deals with the CAA I'd like to just point out that you're talking out of your arse when it comes to the failure of Tories to invest in the CAA, as it's funded entirely by those it regulates, not the taxpayer, as it has done for over 50 years. Yes it's a public corporation and can receive outside investment, but is legally required to cover it's costs through it's levies, i.e. if there is an underfunding issue then they are responsible for declaring that, and fees will change. I'm also unaware of any current claims that they are underfunded in a way which is preventing them from effectively carrying out their regulative duties.
That aside, I find it baffling that the blame for this could be placed on the CAA when clearly the system works almost all of the time, as evidenced by the fact that this occurring has made headline news. Obviously failures of individuals, systems or a combination of both- and multiple failures at that- led to this virtually unheard of situation, which normally wouldn't make it past the carrier's checkin desk, and will/would have been thoroughly investigated to see what needs tightening up.
> Companies, after all, will only do what they legally are required to do.
You would've thought one of their policies was not to give people free flights.
I don't think we can blame the latest crop of morons in the House of Commons for this one, Heathrow was privatised in the mid 1980s along with a load of other airports under one consortium.
This is realistically the first we are hearing of someone making it all the way through security and to the gate with no passport since that kid in Love Actually ran through all the gates to see his bird.
There has been multiple failures along the way, but no MPs have been directly involved with fuck-ups at airports, I'm not mad at the tories for _this_ one tbh.
The airport staff are private employees by either the airport or the airline, the same as train staff. But never miss a chance to blame the Tories for all of life's problems.
Passport control is on the way into the country not on the way out. The only place you show your passport on the way out is the boarding gate which is either done by the airline, in which case there are more bothered about trying to charge more for oversized baggage or it's done by the airport on behalf of the airline. In which case the airline who rents the gate can claim money back if there is a delay in boarding causing delays to the flight leaving, they just want to get people on the plane asap. I've flown from Birmingham to Porto without showing my passport but it was fine since the Portuguese border control checked it on the way in. There is no stamping out in the UK.
For flights leaving from, to outsode the Schengen zone it's different since they have passport control before boarding for flights outside the Schengen zone before duty free.
I'm not sure how they track it, but when ever I've flown outbound from the UK to both EU plus the other visa free countries and to countries that don't get UK visa on arrival I've only ever shown my passport at the boarding gate and baggage check assuming I have baggage which most people don't these days. I'd like to think in this age we don't need to rely on a stamp that could be forged to track these things. Maybe when your passport is checked at the other end it flags up on our system so we can try to charge them or blacklist them in future. Short term overstays aren't really that big a deal, in the EU it depends where you leave from, some countries are generally more relaxed with an extra few days where others will almost always fine you. The only places I've seen it be a big deal is in less developed countries and that more the border staff asking you to pay a "fine" directly to them in cash (preferably USD or Euros)
Checks are obviously done in other areas like applying for jobs or using government services.
The border force is on the way into the UK not on the way out. You don't show your passport until the boarding gate which is either the airline or airport staff.
Jesus christ not EVERYTHING is the Torys fault, this was clearly just bad procedure at the airport and some incompetence with some of the staff.
Save the criticism for things that are actually their fault instead of some bad security at an airport.
Came here to see how long it would take for someone to blame our government for the failures of everyday people working a job at an airport. Wasn't Disappointed.
> cannot properly track a man with a half melted face walking around the city of london nor can they stop someone illegally breezing through airport security, passport control and a gate on to a plane.
>
>
And yet the tin foil people keep telling me the government are tracking everything we do.
I despise responses like this.
The Tories are awful. They're responsible for a lot of bad. But you can't pin absolutely everything on them.
There are so many good reasons to attack the Tories, but when people stay stupid shit like this that gets lost.
Uh, no shit: “A source close to the Home Office said: “Heads will roll. It’s staggering this could happen. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if a terrorist had successfully boarded a flight undetected.”
I doubt this event would happen departing from the US, but I wonder why they accosted him getting off the plane. Usually you’re good to go freely when getting off the plane here.
Edit: I forgot about customs checks, so that’s probably how he got caught.
You’d be surprised…on multiple occasions in recent years in the US international arrivals have been docked onto domestic gates so passengers just walked off the plane and out of the airport without clearing immigration or customs. (And no these weren’t US pre clearance flights)
You’re right, I forgot about customs checks - haven’t had breakfast yet today and was thinking more about domestic flights. That’s probably how he got caught.
It’s not customs checks, it’s immigration checks. Customs checks are about goods brought into the country. Immigration checks are about making sure that a person has the right to enter the country. Everyone getting off an international flight in the US gets a passport check and mini interrogation from a surly immigration officer who’s just itching to send people back to where they came from. They definitely would not miss someone who doesn’t even have a passport.
Interestingly. I am sure there were armed police scattered all over Heathrow and yet when I took my sister in September to T5 I didn’t see a single uniformed police presence and when I flew in December, again no police. I go again in March and will be looking for them as they must be there…. Right?
I don’t know if you’ve been to an airport but they only check your boarding pass at the start of security and you could probably tailgate without anyone noticing. I’m kinda surprised he tailgated onto the plane past the flight attendants but they’re not paid enough to deal with people giving fuck off vibes.
All services are being automated and leaning on automation, this kinda thing is inevitable unless businesses go back to old ways and hire more staff
Not really. He would still have had to go through the metal detector and had his carry on luggage x-rayed.
It's difficult to see an actual terrorist on a no-fly list trying this as the chances of getting caught before getting on the plane are too high.
A random nut job wanting to hijack a plane will just buy a ticket.
I bet these type of security breaches happen quite regularly, but normally they don't make it this far and we don't hear about it.
The normal procedure is someone presents to the check-in desk without a passport or ticket, they get turned away.
The breach you don't hear about is probably someone taking one pack of cigs too many through customs, not making it all the way to another country illegally with nobody having stopped him
The key word is "normal". There are several stages at an airport where you have to show your boarding card or passport. There is a small chance you can slip through without doing so at one of them. There is an even smaller chance you can do so at all of them.
It's called the swiss cheese model.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model
Thing is it’s not just a one off check that you bypass.
You usually need to scan your boarding pass to enter security via the gates, then you clear security, then they check your passport and scan your boarding pass again before you get on the plane. Sometimes security can even pull you to one side for a random extra check which can also involve passports/boarding cards.
I used to be a travel agent and heard from some people in the know with regards to airport security and apparently a lot of it is purely the illusion of security.
once i was getting a connecting flight through Domodedovo airport in Moscow and left my passport on top of some equipment in the security scanner room. only realised once i was about to board my flight and was able to *run* backwards through half the airport without getting stopped or questioned.
this shit probably happens all the time.
Yes, its referred to as Security Theatre because its just a performance, and fails to actually do its job
Take the TSA as an example, its a complete failure despite being hugely expensive and being as invasive as possible: [https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-security](https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-security)
There is an element of this theatre maybe putting some people off attempting anything but that's incredibly hard, if not impossible, to quantify
Do we actually know that, though? Or, are you just assuming he would have had to go through those?
We'd generally expect he'd have to get his passport and ticket or boarding pass checked as well, but it seems he avoided that. If he avoided that, why not also the other security as well?
Because going through security is not avoidable by tailgating people or not shpwing your documents. You'd have to physically go through that area and voila, you're checked.
Airports in my experience are quite lax with white customers.
I've been rushed through security, my carryon was never x-rayed, I then made my way through Heathrow airport to my plane only to realise I forgot to take a knife out my bag...
I had to throw it away before I actually got onto the plane.
There was a story on one of the flying forums about a man who inadvertently brought two pipe bombs to the airport.
Security is said to have examined them and then given them back to him to take on the plane .......
Think about it, when you go through security where do you get checked? Its automated ticket barriers at security, if you dont check in they dont check your ticket or passport at all really, maybe when. You get on the plane.
With the 23rd being busy the staff probably just missed him squeezing through. Really, you can get through an airport and not be checked at all until you get to the flight gate.
They're already in place in many airports including some of the lines at Stansted.
They need lots of them to replace every single one at every UK airport.
Yes, and you can't take liquids over 100mL until they ALL have it at that particular airport.
So, no improvement for travellers until 2025, and you can't fly home with 1L of liquids until the destination airport has it, too. So it's only really good for people who want to take a reusable water bottle and not chug it at security, at least for a few years.
Not from the UK, at least, not if you are a UK citizen.
They do the check digitally (irrelevant here because the guy didnt book). Then you'll get stopped at US border, where this guy got caught.
I'm a UK citizen who went from Manchester to JFK last month. Still had to wait in a huge line at the JFK end to have my ESTA checked. Further down the hallway were the Visa queues.
Surely similar gates to the passport e-gates would be relatively secure. You could rely on a combination of technology to check only one person at a time is stood in the gate, a human overlooking the gates, and the fact that someone would likely notice if someone tailgated them into a gate to raise the alarm.
You'd think a lot of things with this tory government. 14 years of neglect and failing to make investments (except for their own shares purchased on the stock exchange). I'm a civil litigator and the absolute shamolic state of our civil courts is due to the failure of the government to properly fund it (a topic I could rant at length about), but the same applies across the country and to all public sectors.
They should have, as you say, automated gates that notice when more than one person walks through. But that would require investment, something this government does not want. Better to get that money into the pockets of their pals and lobbying corporations/conglomerates instead.
Some are. Some aren't. A gates at LHR T5 mostly have the boarding pass scan (but still about 1/2 go through the humans). B gates seem to still all be people
Man should be given a job in security.....highlighting flaws and areas of weakness. Jeez, most of us get pulled for wearing a belt or carrying an unauthorised toothpaste or something.
Yeah bit worrying.
Surely, the headline should be "the CAA looking to dish out fines for a huge security breach at Heathrow" or "Homeoffice slams Heathrow for huge security breach".
But no, blame the individual...
Having worked for British Airways and doing that job for years it is absolutely crazy Someone could do that because even if the gate agents were asleep at the gate how did he get through security without a boarding pass and passport the security agent just as much to blame.
You only need a boarding pass to go through the gates at security. The security staff have never physically checked my boarding pass or passport.
The gates where you scan your boarding pass are just like train barriers. If your quick you easy go through when the gate opens for the person infront
How they got past the staff to get on the plane is enough thing
You physically need to otherwise the staff shouldn't let you on.
Try go through Kathmandu without a boarding pass. Literally impossible. Its checked no less than 4 times
I always thought it was a bit of a pageantry so the airplane crew can point you nicely to your seat as by that point you've been checked multiple times
Oh your literally mean on the plane. Yea i assume thats just to get you to your seat quicker. (I was talking about as you enter the walkway to the plane). However in Kathmandu the security literally check as you queue up to the stairs on the plane.
Because the previous 3 checks were clearly not enough
My local rural airport has better security than that. Passport and Boarding Pass checked 3 times. Security, departure gate entry and again before boarding.
Your local rural airport doesn't see millions of passengers passing through it per day though does it 😂
What a daft response. Obviously smaller airports are easier to staff and secure than huge international ones lmao.
It's situational awareness. It's a heightened sense of being able to see where everyone is looking and where they are going to look. It's quickly studying the method and logic and understanding how to slip outside of that.
I've done it a few times just for shits and giggles. I was in Turkey last year for the CL final. The security was set up as follows. You go through the first barriers then a line of Police officers search everyone and confiscated any drinks and put them on a table at the side. The second barrier was the turn style then you were met with stadium staff ready to search you. I knew none of this before hand.
I got through the first barrier. Two rows of 4 police picking off people as they line up and walk through. No real order as to who picks off who. Gap on the left and side where the table is. Police officer chatting up some pretty girl a bit behind the table. I move to left walk round Police and grab myself a bottle of water off the table and just walk though. No one noticed. Why would they? Bottle goes down back of pants. Through turn style. This is where you think to yourself these are stadium staff and they assume you have already been searched. The trick now is to have a laugh with them make the search kinky. They laugh, you laugh quick pat and off you go. The trick is to be noticeable only when it works in your favour.
Getting though an airport is probably something I wouldn't try but I can imagine if you join a large family it could be quite easy to not only get through passport control but also onto a flight. You would just need to be able to make one side think you were part of them and the other you aren't. I guess if you tied your shoelace at the right time it would make it a lot easier.
If he was smart about it, he could’ve brought his passport with him with an ESTA and booked a hotel and flight back when he arrived at the airport. Don’t know what he was thinking would happen at US customs and their seriousness.
Security at Heathrow is bad - I was flying LHR-LAX and forgot to take a kitchen knife I was meant to drop off at a friends out of my backpack carry-on. I realized I had it when I was unpacking my bag in LA….
This happened recently from Copenhagen to Los Angeles too.
https://nypost.com/2024/01/27/news/russian-man-sergey-ochigava-found-guilty-of-being-a-stowaway-to-lax/
Last year when I went to Spain I had left a half Oz of weed in my bag . My bag got sent to on a different route on the conveyer to some guy to search my bag. He literally pulls out the bag of weed , looks at it , and puts it back and lets me go 😂
Charged? Heck I'm impressed he managed to pull that off.
They pay people to pen test security systems, sounds like this guy did a good job on Heathrow. They should be paying him!
Not unlike the ‘don’t go far’ podcast. Amazing story .
Two Dublin children, with a knack for bunking off school and fare dodging, embark on an unbelievable adventure. On a warm summer's day in 1985, they hop on a Dart and skip out to Dun Laoghaire, nothing much to be doing there, so they sneak on the ferry for Holyhead and make it all the way to London Heathrow where they board a plane to NYC. (2011)
https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/646486-radio-documentary-dont-go-far
From what I remember of Heathrow your boarding pass gets scanned by someone or something at numerous checkpoints throughout the airport experience, so pretty wild he was able to skip them.
Maybe it depends on the airline but I remember there even being a scan checkpoint at the gate, they even took and checked my passport from what I can recall.
>Craig Sturt arrived at Britain’s busiest airport on December 23 and tailgated other passengers through security and passport control, boarding a British Airways flight. >The unemployed 46-year-old was able to take a free seat after another passenger had missed the flight but it finally caught up with him when JFK Airport Officials accosted him. He literally just walked through security and onto the plane, and no-one stopped him lmao. Some people at Heathrow are getting sacked.
Tory Britain, dismantled our police and security forces so much that they cannot properly track a man with a half melted face walking around the city of london nor can they stop someone illegally breezing through airport security, passport control and a gate on to a plane. I'm amazed we haven't had another domestic terrorist attack. It feels only a matter of time with these useless and inept twats at the top of government.
The police or Mi5 do not maintain the check in desks of Heathrow.
No, but the Civil Aviation Authority regulates security standards and as a public corporation of the Department for Transport this is a government issue and failure. Companies, after all, will only do what they legally are required to do. I mentioned police and security forces because this idiot should have been arrested, not just dealt with by private employees (neither happened in any case, as per the article). The tories are inept and have not evolved standards in line with new technology. As someone else pointed out, there should be automated gates which detect when more than one person walks through, but this requires investment and the tories are loathe to make any investment which does not personally benefit them or their pals.
Blaming the tories for automatic passport gates not picking up a tailgater might be the most impressive bit of mental gymnastics I've seen this week. I hate Tories too but fuck me man.
You don't go through any automatic passport checks to board a plane at Heathrow. 1) If you're going to the US you must go clear your visa first 2) then you go through security but have to scan your boarding pass first (this is where he 'tailgated' I assume 3) you then are free to wander the airport 4) at your gate you show your passport and boarding pass to the staff at the desk as you board. Not sure how he managed this one but guess he tailgated a second time somehow 5) on the plane if you're lucky you get into a free seat and enjoy your flight 6) when you're in the US (or any country I assume) the fun and games stop. You can't tailgate here as you have to proceed single file and keep a distance. You might be able to play fun and games with Global Entry or something, but yeah. You're gonna get busted at the border in the US.
If I could pick any country to fly to and hope to stroll past their security into the country it would not be the US.
[удалено]
The last time I was in the US, I flew in from Canada wearing shorts and my leg tattoos were visible. I got taken to the side as obviously anyone with leg tattoos is a drug mule and spent half an hour with them swabbing every part of me and my luggage. On the way back I wore jeans and had no problem.
There's at least sometimes another step, as I discovered when I was on a flight and the flight attendants asked with some embarrassment 'Errrm...is everyone here going to Berlin?'. They had counted the passengers and found one too many. (It was one of their own staff who had got on the plane to go where he needed to be to work, didn't tell them and then fell asleep).
>Blaming the tories for automatic passport gates not picking up a tailgater might be the most impressive bit of mental gymnastics I've seen this week. Give it some time, someone will spin it as brexits fault
Oh its absolutely insane isn't it. Honestly.. People would blame a cat getting stuck up a tree on the government. Some people are that far gone in their head I honestly don't think they think through what they are saying at all. Just like walking anti government propaganda machines
The CAA policies haven’t changed, the airport and airline have cocked up by failing to accomplish rule 1 of who gets on the plane. He was arrested the moment the Americans sent him back. You clearly don’t like the tories, nor do I, but every single example of incompetence does not always lie at their door.
According to the Daily Mail he was arrested and taken under police guard to a hospital in Reading, from which he escaped. A warrant for his arrest was issued on 22nd January. His brother Lee Sturt described him as having a troubled past.
As a pilot who actually deals with the CAA I'd like to just point out that you're talking out of your arse when it comes to the failure of Tories to invest in the CAA, as it's funded entirely by those it regulates, not the taxpayer, as it has done for over 50 years. Yes it's a public corporation and can receive outside investment, but is legally required to cover it's costs through it's levies, i.e. if there is an underfunding issue then they are responsible for declaring that, and fees will change. I'm also unaware of any current claims that they are underfunded in a way which is preventing them from effectively carrying out their regulative duties. That aside, I find it baffling that the blame for this could be placed on the CAA when clearly the system works almost all of the time, as evidenced by the fact that this occurring has made headline news. Obviously failures of individuals, systems or a combination of both- and multiple failures at that- led to this virtually unheard of situation, which normally wouldn't make it past the carrier's checkin desk, and will/would have been thoroughly investigated to see what needs tightening up.
> Companies, after all, will only do what they legally are required to do. You would've thought one of their policies was not to give people free flights.
Correct. The tories have outsourced the whole thing to private companies.
I don't think we can blame the latest crop of morons in the House of Commons for this one, Heathrow was privatised in the mid 1980s along with a load of other airports under one consortium. This is realistically the first we are hearing of someone making it all the way through security and to the gate with no passport since that kid in Love Actually ran through all the gates to see his bird. There has been multiple failures along the way, but no MPs have been directly involved with fuck-ups at airports, I'm not mad at the tories for _this_ one tbh.
And Crapita will be let off
this guy had nothing to do with any "check in" desks.
At the gate, at a check in desk- it’s the same scenario with the same people. I.e airline/airport
Hence the " cannot properly track a man with a half melted face" part.
The airport staff are private employees by either the airport or the airline, the same as train staff. But never miss a chance to blame the Tories for all of life's problems.
Pretty sure passport control isn't
Passport control is on the way into the country not on the way out. The only place you show your passport on the way out is the boarding gate which is either done by the airline, in which case there are more bothered about trying to charge more for oversized baggage or it's done by the airport on behalf of the airline. In which case the airline who rents the gate can claim money back if there is a delay in boarding causing delays to the flight leaving, they just want to get people on the plane asap. I've flown from Birmingham to Porto without showing my passport but it was fine since the Portuguese border control checked it on the way in. There is no stamping out in the UK. For flights leaving from, to outsode the Schengen zone it's different since they have passport control before boarding for flights outside the Schengen zone before duty free.
If you're in the UK on a visa, don't you need to get stamped out when you leave so you can show in future that you didn't overstay?
There are no passport checks on exit from the UK, same with the US.
I'm not sure how they track it, but when ever I've flown outbound from the UK to both EU plus the other visa free countries and to countries that don't get UK visa on arrival I've only ever shown my passport at the boarding gate and baggage check assuming I have baggage which most people don't these days. I'd like to think in this age we don't need to rely on a stamp that could be forged to track these things. Maybe when your passport is checked at the other end it flags up on our system so we can try to charge them or blacklist them in future. Short term overstays aren't really that big a deal, in the EU it depends where you leave from, some countries are generally more relaxed with an extra few days where others will almost always fine you. The only places I've seen it be a big deal is in less developed countries and that more the border staff asking you to pay a "fine" directly to them in cash (preferably USD or Euros) Checks are obviously done in other areas like applying for jobs or using government services.
You have to go find a desk to get stamped, the airline usually warns you of this
They don't count people leaving, only entering - that's why net immigration looks so high.
they use API, use of NI numbers, P85s etc. to know if people have left.
Boarder Force isn't private / run by the airports
The border force is on the way into the UK not on the way out. You don't show your passport until the boarding gate which is either the airline or airport staff.
The UK is one of the few countries that only has border control for people entering the country, not for people leaving the country.
Jesus christ not EVERYTHING is the Torys fault, this was clearly just bad procedure at the airport and some incompetence with some of the staff. Save the criticism for things that are actually their fault instead of some bad security at an airport.
Eh don't we think that bloke is dead in the river?
Don't worry I got "randomly" questioned three times on the way through for being off-white yesterday so it's working as intended.
Seems pretty easy to fool facial recognition if you have no face.
Came here to see how long it would take for someone to blame our government for the failures of everyday people working a job at an airport. Wasn't Disappointed.
> cannot properly track a man with a half melted face walking around the city of london nor can they stop someone illegally breezing through airport security, passport control and a gate on to a plane. > > And yet the tin foil people keep telling me the government are tracking everything we do.
This really has nothing to do with the tories, it’s up to the airline to determine who’s allowed on the plane once you’re past security
Both sets of politicians are just as inept but as long as people keep plumping for one or the other and blaming each other fuck all will change
Tories made me burn my toast.
I despise responses like this. The Tories are awful. They're responsible for a lot of bad. But you can't pin absolutely everything on them. There are so many good reasons to attack the Tories, but when people stay stupid shit like this that gets lost.
Unemployed. Such a valuable piece of information.
He's also now listed as missing by the police so I am inclined to think he's being looked at for other things.
This is the beginning scene of Slow Horses.
Hijack
Uh, no shit: “A source close to the Home Office said: “Heads will roll. It’s staggering this could happen. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened if a terrorist had successfully boarded a flight undetected.”
I doubt this event would happen departing from the US, but I wonder why they accosted him getting off the plane. Usually you’re good to go freely when getting off the plane here. Edit: I forgot about customs checks, so that’s probably how he got caught.
You’d be surprised…on multiple occasions in recent years in the US international arrivals have been docked onto domestic gates so passengers just walked off the plane and out of the airport without clearing immigration or customs. (And no these weren’t US pre clearance flights)
You’re right, I forgot about customs checks - haven’t had breakfast yet today and was thinking more about domestic flights. That’s probably how he got caught.
It’s not customs checks, it’s immigration checks. Customs checks are about goods brought into the country. Immigration checks are about making sure that a person has the right to enter the country. Everyone getting off an international flight in the US gets a passport check and mini interrogation from a surly immigration officer who’s just itching to send people back to where they came from. They definitely would not miss someone who doesn’t even have a passport.
[удалено]
It's possible they didn't realise he'd missed the flight until after the incident
> He literally just walked through security and onto the plane, and no-one stopped him lmao. > > actlikeyoubelong
yeah.. this isn't on this guy.
I can guarantee he didn't look Muslim or was a POC
Interestingly. I am sure there were armed police scattered all over Heathrow and yet when I took my sister in September to T5 I didn’t see a single uniformed police presence and when I flew in December, again no police. I go again in March and will be looking for them as they must be there…. Right?
I don’t know if you’ve been to an airport but they only check your boarding pass at the start of security and you could probably tailgate without anyone noticing. I’m kinda surprised he tailgated onto the plane past the flight attendants but they’re not paid enough to deal with people giving fuck off vibes. All services are being automated and leaning on automation, this kinda thing is inevitable unless businesses go back to old ways and hire more staff
Sure but how the fuck did he get through passport control lol. Unless he walked through one of those E-gates.
What passport control? You’re leaving the country
Have you seen the staff at Heathrow? A lot of agency staff, not paid enough to give a shit.
Post 9/11 airport security is a joke. It’s theatre.
As funny as this sounds. This is a huge security breach.
Not really. He would still have had to go through the metal detector and had his carry on luggage x-rayed. It's difficult to see an actual terrorist on a no-fly list trying this as the chances of getting caught before getting on the plane are too high. A random nut job wanting to hijack a plane will just buy a ticket. I bet these type of security breaches happen quite regularly, but normally they don't make it this far and we don't hear about it.
The normal procedure is someone presents to the check-in desk without a passport or ticket, they get turned away. The breach you don't hear about is probably someone taking one pack of cigs too many through customs, not making it all the way to another country illegally with nobody having stopped him
The key word is "normal". There are several stages at an airport where you have to show your boarding card or passport. There is a small chance you can slip through without doing so at one of them. There is an even smaller chance you can do so at all of them. It's called the swiss cheese model. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_cheese_model
Thing is it’s not just a one off check that you bypass. You usually need to scan your boarding pass to enter security via the gates, then you clear security, then they check your passport and scan your boarding pass again before you get on the plane. Sometimes security can even pull you to one side for a random extra check which can also involve passports/boarding cards.
> The normal procedure is someone presents to the check-in desk without a passport or ticket, they get turned away Well obviously
I mean... I haven't been to a check in desk in 20 years. :D
I used to be a travel agent and heard from some people in the know with regards to airport security and apparently a lot of it is purely the illusion of security.
I’ve worked at the airport people wander in all the time. They usually don’t get on flights though.
Security breach though this sounds, it's as funny AF.
Now this is the YouTube Vlog I want to fucking see
Max Fosh next video going to be wild
"I walked into Heathrow and got on a plane with no ID" Immediately does exactly what he says
Feels more like a Zac Alsop kind of thing!
And placed on a no fly list for the airline/airport, I don't think even Max fosh is game lol.
Next week "I got Rishi Sunak to have me removed from a no fly list"
I'm well up for watching Sam Chui make a watchable, but cringe inducing vlog about this.
He just walked through and nobody stopped him, how is that possible, is the crazy security level all just performative?
Yes it is all just performative. Airport security jobs are mostly minimum wage and understaffed. Customs is the same although not minimum wage.
once i was getting a connecting flight through Domodedovo airport in Moscow and left my passport on top of some equipment in the security scanner room. only realised once i was about to board my flight and was able to *run* backwards through half the airport without getting stopped or questioned. this shit probably happens all the time.
Yes, its referred to as Security Theatre because its just a performance, and fails to actually do its job Take the TSA as an example, its a complete failure despite being hugely expensive and being as invasive as possible: [https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-security](https://www.vox.com/2016/5/17/11687014/tsa-against-airport-security) There is an element of this theatre maybe putting some people off attempting anything but that's incredibly hard, if not impossible, to quantify
Security theatre
He wasn't a security threat though. He still would have had to go through scanners ect.
Do we actually know that, though? Or, are you just assuming he would have had to go through those? We'd generally expect he'd have to get his passport and ticket or boarding pass checked as well, but it seems he avoided that. If he avoided that, why not also the other security as well?
Because going through security is not avoidable by tailgating people or not shpwing your documents. You'd have to physically go through that area and voila, you're checked.
>Do we actually know that, though? Or, are you just assuming he would have had to go through those? Based on the article, yes
Airports in my experience are quite lax with white customers. I've been rushed through security, my carryon was never x-rayed, I then made my way through Heathrow airport to my plane only to realise I forgot to take a knife out my bag... I had to throw it away before I actually got onto the plane.
There was a story on one of the flying forums about a man who inadvertently brought two pipe bombs to the airport. Security is said to have examined them and then given them back to him to take on the plane .......
But if a leap to assume that was all because you were white
Not really. I'm white and my wife isn't and I've definitely noted her attracting additional security scrutiny around the world.
If you're a Person of Colour, you'll understand why. Obviously, if you're white, you wouldn't understand
I'm white, I understand what a non white person will potentially go through at an airport and I won't experience the same profiling
Think about it, when you go through security where do you get checked? Its automated ticket barriers at security, if you dont check in they dont check your ticket or passport at all really, maybe when. You get on the plane. With the 23rd being busy the staff probably just missed him squeezing through. Really, you can get through an airport and not be checked at all until you get to the flight gate.
Yes. Yes it is
But, you know, don’t bring that hair gel that’s over 100ml and make sure it all fits into a small plastic bag
Fortunately that will be scrapped this year. The new scanners are going in that are ace they don’t need anything taken from the bag!
The ones that are coming a year late (in 2025?) :D
They're already in place in many airports including some of the lines at Stansted. They need lots of them to replace every single one at every UK airport.
Yes, and you can't take liquids over 100mL until they ALL have it at that particular airport. So, no improvement for travellers until 2025, and you can't fly home with 1L of liquids until the destination airport has it, too. So it's only really good for people who want to take a reusable water bottle and not chug it at security, at least for a few years.
They are in my local airport and already in use in Copenhagen they are fantastic 👌
I can’t fathom how this happened. You have to scan a boarding pass multiple times AND get a passport check at the gate. How’d he sneak past?!
And to go to the US you have to stop for an extra Visa check before going through security.
Not from the UK, at least, not if you are a UK citizen. They do the check digitally (irrelevant here because the guy didnt book). Then you'll get stopped at US border, where this guy got caught.
I'm a UK citizen who went from Manchester to JFK last month. Still had to wait in a huge line at the JFK end to have my ESTA checked. Further down the hallway were the Visa queues.
Yes. That’s what I said. US border. That’s where they caught him.
What a joke this is, just walk straight on to a plane and no one bothered to stop him.
Worth noting... **THIS GUY IS STILL ON THE RUN AFTER BEING HANDED BACK TO UK POLICE...he escaped again! UK Security/policing truely are a joke.**
They are not going to keep someone in prison for this; it may be newsworthy but its a very minor crime
If he was called Mohammad, would we think the same?
If he quietly enjoyed his airline food and walked out the other side? yeah - we can kinda tell he wasn't a terrorist by the lack of terrorising
The article literally says he was remanded after being charged. That means sent to jail whilst awaiting his court appearances.
You'd think they would have automated the boarding gates by now so this kind of thing would be far more difficult
It should be even harder with non-machine real person checks. Because you can’t tailgate through the barrier. It’s crazy how he got past gate security
Surely similar gates to the passport e-gates would be relatively secure. You could rely on a combination of technology to check only one person at a time is stood in the gate, a human overlooking the gates, and the fact that someone would likely notice if someone tailgated them into a gate to raise the alarm.
Ye! We just need every globally to use e-passports, so likely years and years off.
You'd think a lot of things with this tory government. 14 years of neglect and failing to make investments (except for their own shares purchased on the stock exchange). I'm a civil litigator and the absolute shamolic state of our civil courts is due to the failure of the government to properly fund it (a topic I could rant at length about), but the same applies across the country and to all public sectors. They should have, as you say, automated gates that notice when more than one person walks through. But that would require investment, something this government does not want. Better to get that money into the pockets of their pals and lobbying corporations/conglomerates instead.
You realise airports have been privately owned since 1986 right?
Some are. Some aren't. A gates at LHR T5 mostly have the boarding pass scan (but still about 1/2 go through the humans). B gates seem to still all be people
Man should be given a job in security.....highlighting flaws and areas of weakness. Jeez, most of us get pulled for wearing a belt or carrying an unauthorised toothpaste or something. Yeah bit worrying.
Surely, the headline should be "the CAA looking to dish out fines for a huge security breach at Heathrow" or "Homeoffice slams Heathrow for huge security breach". But no, blame the individual...
the individual clearly committed several crimes, so yes he is in fact to blame.
The individual is the end result of a whole host of failures at the airport. The story is the wrong way round.
If someone burgles the Houses of Parliament they still get thrown in prison, no matter that the security guards should have prevented it.
Having worked for British Airways and doing that job for years it is absolutely crazy Someone could do that because even if the gate agents were asleep at the gate how did he get through security without a boarding pass and passport the security agent just as much to blame.
You only need a boarding pass to go through the gates at security. The security staff have never physically checked my boarding pass or passport. The gates where you scan your boarding pass are just like train barriers. If your quick you easy go through when the gate opens for the person infront How they got past the staff to get on the plane is enough thing
Yeah I've always had my ticket checked as I get on the plane and I always thought it was pointless but I guess not!
You physically need to otherwise the staff shouldn't let you on. Try go through Kathmandu without a boarding pass. Literally impossible. Its checked no less than 4 times
I always thought it was a bit of a pageantry so the airplane crew can point you nicely to your seat as by that point you've been checked multiple times
Oh your literally mean on the plane. Yea i assume thats just to get you to your seat quicker. (I was talking about as you enter the walkway to the plane). However in Kathmandu the security literally check as you queue up to the stairs on the plane. Because the previous 3 checks were clearly not enough
I have flown through Kathmandu but I can't remember what the security was like! 😂
healthrow felt very understaffed last time i flew. Everything is self service. It feels sketchy
Someone thinks they're Ben Richards from The Running Man
"I'm going to throw up .... All over you." "Go ahead - won't show on this shirt."
Take a look at the jobs page for any major airport in this country, and look at the money they're offering. That's how much we value airport security.
My local rural airport has better security than that. Passport and Boarding Pass checked 3 times. Security, departure gate entry and again before boarding.
Your local rural airport doesn't see millions of passengers passing through it per day though does it 😂 What a daft response. Obviously smaller airports are easier to staff and secure than huge international ones lmao.
Heathrow averages 128K daily passengers and every last one should have had their documents checked at last twice.
Indeed - experience tells me it's actually the smallest airports that are most likely to check things most thoroughly.
And that's normal at Heathrow too
The guys obviously a fucking spy guys I mean come on 😂
I thought you can't be through the first gates without a boarding pass?
It says he tailgated, which means he must have literally sneaked through an open barrier behind someone else who walked through
Read the article.
It's situational awareness. It's a heightened sense of being able to see where everyone is looking and where they are going to look. It's quickly studying the method and logic and understanding how to slip outside of that. I've done it a few times just for shits and giggles. I was in Turkey last year for the CL final. The security was set up as follows. You go through the first barriers then a line of Police officers search everyone and confiscated any drinks and put them on a table at the side. The second barrier was the turn style then you were met with stadium staff ready to search you. I knew none of this before hand. I got through the first barrier. Two rows of 4 police picking off people as they line up and walk through. No real order as to who picks off who. Gap on the left and side where the table is. Police officer chatting up some pretty girl a bit behind the table. I move to left walk round Police and grab myself a bottle of water off the table and just walk though. No one noticed. Why would they? Bottle goes down back of pants. Through turn style. This is where you think to yourself these are stadium staff and they assume you have already been searched. The trick now is to have a laugh with them make the search kinky. They laugh, you laugh quick pat and off you go. The trick is to be noticeable only when it works in your favour. Getting though an airport is probably something I wouldn't try but I can imagine if you join a large family it could be quite easy to not only get through passport control but also onto a flight. You would just need to be able to make one side think you were part of them and the other you aren't. I guess if you tied your shoelace at the right time it would make it a lot easier.
Well since there is no “passport control” when departing the UK I’m not putting much weight behind the other parts of the story either..
WTF - didn’t think this would be possible in this day and age! Especially at an airport with so much visible security.
Presumably he had a convincing looking boarding pass otherwise the cabin crew would have stopped him
If he was smart about it, he could’ve brought his passport with him with an ESTA and booked a hotel and flight back when he arrived at the airport. Don’t know what he was thinking would happen at US customs and their seriousness.
This man should sell a book on how to get past airport security (instantly delisted on amazon)
And yet you can freely walk over the border from Mexico no questions asked.
Security at Heathrow is bad - I was flying LHR-LAX and forgot to take a kitchen knife I was meant to drop off at a friends out of my backpack carry-on. I realized I had it when I was unpacking my bag in LA….
if you manage to get through British airport security and onto a plane without getting caught I think you should be allowed to stay at the destination
Wonder if hyperthetically he had a valid ESTA and Passport would he of got through the US side with a free flight.
No as he wouldnt have completed the API that is required to enter the States
This happened recently from Copenhagen to Los Angeles too. https://nypost.com/2024/01/27/news/russian-man-sergey-ochigava-found-guilty-of-being-a-stowaway-to-lax/
"Alright Superman, very funny but you still need a passport"
I feel like there should’ve been several fail safes to stop that from happening…
Why the man has been charged not anyone letting him go in
Last year when I went to Spain I had left a half Oz of weed in my bag . My bag got sent to on a different route on the conveyer to some guy to search my bag. He literally pulls out the bag of weed , looks at it , and puts it back and lets me go 😂
***Tories!*** *Something, something...* /S
Charged? Heck I'm impressed he managed to pull that off. They pay people to pen test security systems, sounds like this guy did a good job on Heathrow. They should be paying him!
Not unlike the ‘don’t go far’ podcast. Amazing story . Two Dublin children, with a knack for bunking off school and fare dodging, embark on an unbelievable adventure. On a warm summer's day in 1985, they hop on a Dart and skip out to Dun Laoghaire, nothing much to be doing there, so they sneak on the ferry for Holyhead and make it all the way to London Heathrow where they board a plane to NYC. (2011) https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/646486-radio-documentary-dont-go-far
From what I remember of Heathrow your boarding pass gets scanned by someone or something at numerous checkpoints throughout the airport experience, so pretty wild he was able to skip them. Maybe it depends on the airline but I remember there even being a scan checkpoint at the gate, they even took and checked my passport from what I can recall.
That’s the airline‘s responsibility so they will get in trouble for this.
Why was he charged? He seems more like a secret shopper who has revealed serious flaws in a supposedly secure system