A Norwegian managed to sneak through security and board two Lufthansa flights in Munich despite not having tickets. Then he got greedy…
Man gets greedy after sneaking onto a Lufthansa flight without a ticket… and getting caught
As One Mile At A Time reports, a 39-year-old Norwegian citizen decided to try his luck and sneak onto a Lufthansa flight without a ticket. And honestly, he picked a pretty good airport to do it at.
Let’s start with that, because it seems clear to me why he was able to pass through security without a ticket and board a plane without a ticket: automation.
Franz Josef Strauss International Airport in Munich uses automatic gates at its security checkpoints. You scan your boarding pass and the gate opens, allowing you access to the security screening area. It’s quite easy to stand close behind someone and get through before the gate closes… closely monitoring would require far too many staff, although I imagine security cameras record everyone who goes through.
The gate areas are the same, at least for Lufthansa regional flights. You line up and scan your boarding pass to board. Again, if there is no gate agent paying attention, you can pretty easily walk through closely behind another traveler…which is how my kids usually board…they both get through when I go through (though I do stop to scan their boarding passes so I’m not marked as a no-show).
So I’m not too concerned about him getting on a plane. It’s a straightforward process and he went through the same security checks as everyone else.
On the first day, he boarded a Lufthansa flight (LH2418) to Stockholm (ARN). But he was caught when the flight was full and there were no seats for him. The police picked him up at the gate but released him.
The next day he did the same thing.
Only this time the flight was not fully booked and he was able to fly to Stockholm for free.
Frank Abignale III? Well, he wasn’t the brightest, because he decided to try his luck and get back on the plane to Munich.
But it was the same crew and they noticed him… and reported him… and had him arrested. In Germany he is accused of fare evasion and trespassing.
Worryingly, he was found to be carrying a knife with a 10-centimeter blade. Such knives are not allowed in hand luggage, meaning they likely escaped security checks in Munich.
Munich Airport is investigating:
“It will take some time to resolve the incident. We are investigating how the passenger was able to bypass the automatic boarding pass check before the security check. The airline is also checking the boarding pass check at the boarding gates, where it is responsible for checking.”
Meanwhile, the chairman of the police union linked the incident to the break-in by climate activists on the airport premises.
“I have never experienced anything like this in my career as a civil servant. The airport must explain how this could have happened. Climate activists simply cut open fences and now a passenger is flying through Europe without a ticket.”
Both are indeed worrying. But how can a huge airport complex be comprehensively protected without prohibitive personnel costs?
Such incidents seem to me to be the risks we take to have an efficient airport system with financially viable staffing levels. Again, he was subjected to the same scrutiny as everyone else, so my only concern here is the blade he was able to bring on board.
DIPLOMA
A man managed to sneak aboard a Lufthansa flight and fly from Munich to Stockholm. He would have succeeded had he not greedily tried to get back on the same plane with the same crew and fly back to Germany. This incident raises legitimate questions about security at Munich Airport, but in my opinion the only real incident is the knife he brought on board.
And to the 39-year-old: Maybe you want to work for an airline and you can spend the whole day on a plane on your days off if that’s what you like.
