TSA Reveals Hundreds Of Cases Where Passengers Circumvented Airport Security
Once again, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has revealed a lapse in airport security measures with reports that several hundred individuals attempted to evade checkpoints or actually managed to do so.
In some cases, the perpetrators even made it onto a flight. However, these instances are rare compared to the numbers in general which are reportedly more than 300 over the past twelve months.
Only the most spectacular cases usually make it into the news, but those are far and in between if we can believe the occasional disclosures by the agency, which now revealed that hundreds of such situations occur each year.
As CBS reports, the number of incidents is roughly one per day, and that is in addition to the number of missed contraband that passengers manage to smuggle through the checkpoints.
Hundreds of passengers circumvented or tried to circumvent various aspects of airport security to access secure areas of U.S. airports within the last year, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
Since March 2023, there have been at least 300 instances of people trying to bypass parts of airport security, the agency said Friday. Only a small number actually made it onto a plane, although the TSA declined to disclose the exact number. The security lapse figures were first reported by The Washington Post.
Of those roughly 300 incidents, about 200 were people trying to enter the secure area of the airport at the point where passengers exit. Another 80 bypassed the TSA podium where agents check IDs, but were screened and got their luggage through security. Of those 80, 85% were stopped and arrested by law enforcement for trespassing, according to the TSA.
A TSA spokesperson said most of the incidents were the result of “inadvertent and unintentional actions by the passenger.”
“In those rare instances where a passenger attempts to breach a portion of the security process, TSA immediately investigates and takes corrective action,” the spokesperson said.
Last month, a 26-year-old man was arrested after he made it onto a Delta plane at the Salt Lake City Airport. He made it through security with a valid boarding pass on standby for a flight that was full. Security footage showed him taking photos of other passengers’ boarding passes, one of which he apparently used to board another flight. He was removed from the plane before takeoff.
In February, a woman boarded an American Airlines flight from Nashville to Los Angeles without a boarding pass. At the time, the TSA confirmed the woman snuck past the ID checkpoint, although she did go through security. The woman was taken into custody.
The TSA only considers it a “security breach” when someone completely evades security screening.
The agency said airports across the country are working on new technology and updates at their exits to ensure people can only go one way, steps that have already been implemented in new terminals at Washington’s Reagan National Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. …
The assumption that any kind of security system, especially that of a nationwide public transportation network, would provide 100% accuracy is, of course, nonsense. Nothing is 100%, and given how many passengers are screened annually at the national TSA checkpoints, ~ 300 incidents actually appear low.
That being said, it only takes ONE bad apple to cause something serious, and it’s important to emphasize what the TSA says here; they only consider it a “security breach” when someone completely evades security screening. This means anyone who is still screened properly isn’t much of a safety risk.
Woman Bypasses TSA ID Checkpoint at Nashville Airport, Flies to L.A. Without Ticket
The above case that happened last month is one such incident where someone managed to sneak by the ID checker at the TSA checkpoint and then even got on a plane without a valid ticket.
In the end, the airlines are ultimately responsible for preventing unticketed passengers from boarding their aircraft. In any case, airlines assume rightfully that every passenger in the secure area has been screened according to protocol.
I have never witnessed anyone being able to just sneak onto a plane, even by accident, though there are occasional reports of passengers ending up on the wrong aircraft. These are usually ticketed onto other flights, though; this woman in the above case had no ticket whatsoever.
Conclusion
The TSA has issued data confirming that approximately 300 individuals were found to have been in violation of security protocols in attempts to enter the secure area without undergoing screening.
You can add these incidents to the number of times where ticketed passengers smuggle contraband through the checkpoints. Some of these include firearms, weapons, and ammunition. There are also some gun owners who still have their firearms in their bags unintentionally. Usually, law enforcement deals with this rather professionally unless they suspect a crime is being committed.
Is flying in the U.S. secure or anywhere near safe enough as far as airport security is concerned?
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