Comments on: Flying Without a Wallet

By: philosecurity » Blog Archive » Flyer “Processed” (Arrested?) in NM After Declining to Show ID

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:08:02 +0000

[...] “In reality, ID checks don’t make us safer. All of the terrorists on that 9/11 flight had valid ID. It’s a fake security measure designed make us to feel safer. It’s not actually intended to keep us safe. There are ways around it, too… Just last year TSA announced a new policy for the first time ever, which said that if you don’t have your ID but you cooperate with TSA, show them credit cards etc, you can fly. So if you say you screwed up, it’s cool. If you politely refuse for whatever reason to show ID… [...]

By: Barbara @ UpTake.com

Barbara @ UpTake.com — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:18:06 +0000

I think the most salient point you make is the crumbling of our freedoms. I frankly can’t believe you chanced taking your laptop with you, knowing what you intended to do. Brave one!

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:56:41 +0000

If you want to travel anonymously, then walk.

The airline has to make sure that its passengers don’t have anything on them that can harm other passengers, the crew or the plane itself. They have to know that you aren’t boarding the flight to intentionally disrupt it. This is common and basic safety and security of a product/service.

If the flight is between two countries or US states, then the plane is travelling to a different legal system and jurisdiction. When crossing any border or stateline, the police have to check travellers to see if they’re criminally convicted/on parole/wanted in either country or state. Your flight was from Boston to Las Vegas – to a different state. You were also passing through the airspace of a dozen other states.

The United States of America is not like any other country. It is the 3rd largest country by both area and population in the world. It is comprised of 50 different states, each with its own laws. Other countries, even those larger than the US, only have one legal system and set of laws across the entire nation.

To travel freely within Germany, the UK, France, Australia or Canada is reasonable. The US, on the other hand, is so fractured legally (mainly due to the history of how it was compiled) that it would be impossible to travel so freely without overhalling the entire legal system, which would take decades and which most people couldn’t be bothered to do just to be able to fly between states without a driver’s license or passport.

By: Innodaweido

Innodaweido — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:46:23 +0000

omg.. good work, guy

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:58:19 +0000

I live in the States and have done so for over 40 years. I am a 74 year-old female with an English accent, a green card and a European passport. I would say two out of three times I travel I am taken out of line for the full search. No one can seem to tell me why!
And of course, I am now even more “suspicious” since occasionally my new metal hip will cause the detector to buzz…

By: john

john — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:47:14 +0000

the government planned 9/11. stop stressing over airport security.

By: Bob in Oz

Bob in Oz — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 10:52:39 +0000

Here in OZ you can’t get your boarding pass without Photo ID. If you print it off at home when checking bags you have to provide Photo ID. If you print it off at home and have no luggage you just pass through security without any special checks. Random(?) people are checked for exposure to explosives. The interesting person is my wife, who (last month) flew with the following in her security screened, handbag.
1 pair of scissors,
1 pair of nail clippers.
An aluminium covered notebook, that has cut her a number of times when using it.
She also has screws in her spine that sets off the metal detectors. They use a hand held detector to check her. She tells them she has screws in her back. They say OK. No check are made as to the validity of her claim. She does carry a letter from her doctor that explains the metal, but has never been asked for it.
May be we are the profile of the ‘normal’ everyday person, who does not impose a threat.

It all seems so arbitrary to me. We have travelled on every continent except the Antarctic, with no worries except in Heathrow and LA international. Heathrow was that I could not correctly identify what was in a blue bag in my luggage. I had 5 bluebags. I had to compltely unpack my bag. In LA we wanted to bookin more than 12 hours before our flight. We were told we could not as they had had a bomb scare in longterm checked in baggage.

By: DH405

DH405 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:00:05 +0000

I considered doing this same thing when flying out to BH/DC, but decided against it since I didn’t want to be delayed.

Of course, then I ended up sitting in Denver for an extra 6 hours because they diverted my plane. Made me miss the Qualys party.

Don’t fly United.

By: felipon

felipon — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:03:50 +0000

interesting history, but, what about racism, or discrimination, i think that you are a white guy, what if u werent?

By: airlineairlinepilot

airlineairlinepilot — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:36:59 +0000

None at all surprising…remember, the security directors at the airports are all political appointees….BUT, I can tell you that there are security procedures in place that you cannot see…….

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 16:17:26 +0000

When I found myself at the airport with no I.D., thinking I’d have to go get it and come back, they assured me it wasn’t a problem. I had a boarding pass and they marked it to indicate I didn’t have ID and then put me through a full search, but never called anyone or had me fill out any forms to check my identity at all – nor did they ask for any other kind of ID (and I had other ID on me). I could have flown Alaska that day under a bogus name and as long as I submitted to a more extensive search, they didn’t care. I was glad I got to fly home that day, but it’s bothered me ever since that no verification of my identy was even requested of me!

By: F

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:07:39 +0000

I did this recently and it was pretty uneventful. No phone calls, just the SSSS and the only extra security was that they swabbed down all of my luggage for the explosives detector (which, BTW, detects any nitrates, so don’t mess with any fertilizer or nitro patches before going to the airport). I was through in 10 minutes. They didn’t even seem to be particularly fazed by it.

By: Seth

Seth — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:14:31 +0000

When I was in high school I was flying from Massachusetts to Missouri with my aunt but we were delayed in getting to the airport in Boston, so we only arrived a few minutes before the plane was set to take off. We explained the situation to some peon who took us to a lady that at least looked like she had some authority and he told her what we had told him. She looked up and down at us for about five seconds, said, “Okay, follow me,” and we proceeded to bypass *all* security. She took us straight to the place where we boarded, and they checked our ID and boarding passes and showed us to our seats. I’m actually glad to know that some people have enough common sense to realize that the vast majority of air travellers pose no security threat whatsoever.

By: The Vast Jeff Wing Conspiracy » On Chinese blogging and American free speech

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:16:10 +0000

[...] lists. (Did you catch the news that, to fly without ID, you need to provide the government with details of your past addresses? I.e., what you say at the airport is checked against their pre-existing databases on [...]

By: Interesting Story on Flying without an ID at OnEarthTravel - A wonderful directory of Travel

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:54:55 +0000

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:54:31 +0000

I recently inadvertently left my driver’s license at my office and didn’t have it with me trying to go through security. The only suggestion I got to get through security without gov’t-issued ID was from a Frontier Airlines check-in agent, who suggested I provide my Costco card to TSA, because it had my picture on it. Needless to say, I didn’t bother trying that.

By: Will Irace

Will Irace — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:50:18 +0000

I travel a lot. I’m in the IT security business too. This was the most interesting thing I’ve read in a very long time. Thanks so much.

By: Pan Tau

Pan Tau — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:32:13 +0000

The machine that they used to check your stuff for explosives was most likely one of those: http://www.smithsdetection.com/eng/297.php

By: Glen

Glen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:11:01 +0000

The most amazing thing about this whole story is that anyone would trust their wallet to the postal service

By: 15th August « solving the world’s problems

15th August « solving the world’s problems — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:32:18 +0000

[...] Flying Without a Wallet I think that this is really interesting, there either needs to be good, effective security, or [...]