In another security failure at Ben Gurion Airport, an Israeli man, about 18 years old, managed to slip onto an Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna without holding a boarding pass. The incident comes about two months after a serious incident in which a 13-year-old boy managed to board an El Al flight to the United States without a ticket or passport.
“Following information received from the airline regarding an unusual incident in which an Israeli passenger, about 18 years old, boarded an aircraft without a boarding pass, it was examined and found that the passenger underwent security screening but did not complete the border control process. An immediate review was conducted with the responsible bodies: the Population and Immigration Authority and the airline. The airline and the Population Authority will carry out an inspection and debrief the incident in order to strengthen the layers of control and oversight in the process,” the Israel Airports Authority said Tuesday evening in a statement.
Austrian Airlines said that “an internal investigation into the incident is underway, and therefore at this stage no further details can be provided. The aircraft in question underwent a comprehensive safety inspection after the flight.”
These are the steps leading to boarding an aircraft
Security questioning: Presentation of a passport and a valid flight ticket before entering the check-in area.
Airline check-in counters or fast-track kiosks: Presentation of a passport, flight ticket and valid ESTA authorization.
Security screening: Presentation of a passport and flight ticket before proceeding to border control.
Border control: Passing through a biometric or staffed booth, depending on the type of passport.
Boarding: At the gate, just before boarding the aircraft, an additional check is carried out. Passengers must present a passport bearing a security screening sticker, the boarding pass is scanned at a biometric station, and a printed ticket stub is issued. This creates a full and accurate indication of every passenger registered for the flight. At this stage, it should not be possible to board a flight without a valid ticket, as the biometric system is directly linked to the approved passenger list.