Many frequent flyers may think that the current flight experience is not worth the price, but they do not want to get on a plane without buying a ticket. A 39-year-old Norwegian managed to bypass security and board a flight without a ticket. Munich Airport twice earlier this month. The cunning stowaway is said to have exploited the German facility’s automated checkpoints by walking through closely behind a paying passenger.
The brave traveler first passed through the airport security check on August 4 and boarded a flight to Hamburg. The cabin crew only discovered him because the flight was fully booked, the National Post reports. The airline handed him over to the police, but he was later released for an explained reason. I would not have taken the stroke of luck as a sign to just go home and don’t try again. However, our stowaway had other plans.
The next day, the same man passed through security again and boarded a Lufthansa flight to Stockholm. He found a place this time and flew to Sweden without any problems. The stowaway almost got away unscathed, but then he tried to fly back to Munich on the same plane. The staff then handed him over to the police. While the 39-year-old is being investigated for illegal entry and transport fraud, the law enforcement authorities and Lufthansa are investigating how someone without a ticket could have got so far. A spokesman for Munich Airport told the Independent:
“The airline is doing the same for boarding pass control at the gate, which is their responsibility. We have already sensitized the access control staff and are employing additional staff. We are also in contact with our partners, the authorities and the airline.”
“The person passed the security check properly and without any irregularities; the state police have already informed us of this based on their investigations.”
Getting through airport security without a ticket is less rare than you might think. Earlier this year, the Transportation Security Administration had to deal with a woman who simply went through an empty security checkt in Nashville and boarded an American Airlines flight to Los Angeles. The agencies do not really prove that they more than security theatre and a safety net for irresponsible gun owners.
