A woman got to trip to Los Angeles free of charge after she apparently strolled through an empty portion of an airport security checkpoint in Nashville and boarded an American Airlines flight to LAX without a ticket. However, the free-roaming flyer was met by law enforcement when the plane landed in California. The deeply beloved Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now facing questions over why a passenger received such an amenable experience at Nashville International Airport.
Contrary to the allegations made by the TSA, the same federal agency also claimed that the rogue passenger was somehow checked before the flight left the gate. The federal agency sent a statement to USA Today, reading:
“TSA is reviewing the circumstances of this matter, but can confirm that the traveler in question was physically screened, along with their carry-on items, without incident at the Nashville International Airport security checkpoint on February 7th before boarding the flight. TSA and its airline partners are cooperating with the ongoing law enforcement investigation.”
This isn’t even the first time in recent months that someone has circumvented airport security. In late December, a British man used the pandemonium of the holiday travel season to sneak through London Heathrow Airport security. He used other travelers as cover and got on to a British Airways flight to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York without a passport or boarding pass. The stowaway was eventually caught at customs in the United States.
There’s clearly a need for airport security because screening keep finding loaded guns in carry-on luggage. However, the system is reaching a point of massively diminishing returns. What is the point of having full-body scanners and facial recognition kiosks if someone can simply walk around it? Is all this expensive cutting-edge technology even the biggest deterrent to potential threat?