Isn't the airline supposed to check your ticket?

[soupcxan]

I was on a flight from Houston to Philly recently and we had pulled away from the gate, headed out to the runway. Suddenly a passenger asks if this is the plan to Ft. Myers, FL. Clearly it is not. So the plane has to reverse course, return to the gate, drop her off, and then we get going again. I love how one person's ignorance causes ~200 others to be late.

But my question is, how did she get on the plane in the first place? Isn't the airline supposed to check tickets as people board so this doesn't happen? I know my ticket was scanned by a computer that made a beep...if I had a ticket for a different flight, would have had made two beeps or something to let the agent know I was in the wrong place? More importantly, if airlines can't keep the right passengers on the right planes, what about security?

 

[mickeyd]

Doesn't that Houston to Ft. Myers flight have a layover in Philly? I'm pretty sure it does.

 

[Leonidas]

Even before 9-11 I would often hear the flight crew announce the flight's destination before we left the gate and say something like "if this is not your destination please let us know right away." I thought that was such a waste of breath because I could not fathom how anyone with normal mental ability could get on the wrong plane.

For that to happen post 9-11 is just embarrassing for the TSA and the airlines.

 

[saluki9]

Even before 9-11 I would often hear the flight crew announce the flight's destination before we left the gate and say something like "if this is not your destination please let us know right away." I thought that was such a waste of breath because I could not fathom how anyone with normal mental ability could get on the wrong plane.

For that to happen post 9-11 is just embarrassing for the TSA and the airlines.

They did this on my flight last week

 

[rs0460a]

what about security?

Assume she already passed through an airport security checkpoint somewhere in the flight/connection.  No need to delay by going through again.....

 

[haha]

what about security?

Assume she already passed through an airport security checkpoint somewhere in the flight/connection.  No need to delay by going through again.....

Except that she could put a bomb in her luggage and check it through to Ft. Myers, then "mistakenly" get on the "wrong" flight, thus avoiding death when her bomb went off. Poor show, IMO.

Ha

 

[rs0460a]

Except that she could put a bomb in her luggage and check it through to Ft. Myers, then "mistakenly" get on the "wrong" flight, thus avoiding death when her bomb went off. Poor show, IMO.

Ha

Ha,

I don't travel within the US that much.  However, I do go from either Newark or Philadelphia several times (actually more than that...) a year to several destinations in Europe.

I know in these cases, if there has been checked luggage, and you did not get on the plane, the luggage will be removed (in fact, at CDG in Paris, they would "blow it up").  Sorry to digress, but maybe it's a fact that you can do this in CONUS.

I know this for a fact because I have been held up in Newark (awaiting a Copenhagen flight) where the "businessmen" were kind of "drinking too much" in the club and didn't hear the boarding call.  Wound up waiting almost an hour (good thing they can make it up, flying "over the pond"...)  Of course, it takes more than an hour to search all the luggage (to pull it).  I just wish they would have left it on the tarmack  to follow on the flight the next day...

- Ron

 

[brewer12345]

I know in these cases, if there has been checked luggage, and you did not get on the plane, the luggage will be removed (in fact, at CDG in Paris, they would "blow it up").  Sorry to digress, but maybe it's a fact that you can do this in CONUS.

I believe that in the US they will yank your checked luggage if you didn't board the flight. Not sure about the blowing up part, but since they always warn about "dmage" to your luggage in these cases, it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

 

[Brat]

Lots of folks don't check luggage, they use roll-aboards.

I got on the wrong flight once, Delta staff found me before the gate closed.  This can happen when waiting areas for several gates are close and the passenger bears left rather than right.  HOWEVER, those scanners as you enter the walkway should pick up the error immediately.  In the 'good old days' they would just collect your boarding pass as you entered, then the gate staff would match the boarding passes to the manifest.

IMHO, there is no reason why this type of mistake should go undetected before the gate closes today.

Now, let's vent about the distructive contract baggage handlers!!!  I really don't like to fly SW, but at least they handle their own bags.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

It wouldn't surprise me too much if those machines were largely for show. I know one thing they do is make an extra beep if your ticket has been selected for special screening. Then the gate agent has to double-check to make sure the ticket is stamped with the special screening stamps and scribbles.

One trip I was assigned the same seat as somebody else *twice*. That was odd.

I believe that in the US they will yank your checked luggage if you didn't board the flight. Not sure about the blowing up part, but since they always warn about "dmage" to your luggage in these cases, it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

I've heard that, but I'm not sure if they're keeping up with it as well as they used to.