With the number of people who travel by air, sometimes things are bound to go wrong. However, this is still really strange (thanks to Daniel for flagging this)…
In this post:
Woman accidentally flies as someone else
BBC journalist Catherine Snowdon has written about a bizarre incident she faced on April 23, 2025, when flying from London (LHR) to Madrid (MAD). Specifically, she was on the 10:50AM flight that day, which was Iberia IB714, though she booked it as a codeshare through British Airways.
Long story short, she accidentally traveled under the wrong identity, yet no one realized. At first, everything seemed normal enough:
- She attempted to use online check-in, but it didn’t work, so she headed to Heathrow Airport to do it in person
- She then tried to use a self-service kiosk, and that also didn’t work, with an “assistance required” message
- She then checked in with staff at the check-in counter, who handed her a boarding pass, and she proceeded to security; she acknowledges that she didn’t actually read the boarding pass in any detail
- She handed her passport and boarding pass to another member of staff at the gate, who let her on the plane
- Once onboard, she realized she was in business class, and she assumed it must have been a free upgrade
However, once she landed in Madrid, things got strange. She received an email that her return flight had been canceled. She asked BBC’s travel provider what happened, and what their plan was for getting her home. In response, the travel company said the flight was canceled because she no-showed on the outbound flight.
She explained that wasn’t the case, and that she was in fact on the flight, and was writing the message while waiting for her checked luggage. However, she received a further message to say that the airline was adamant that she hadn’t traveled on the flight.
That’s the point at which she looked at the boarding pass more closely, and noticed that the boarding pass wasn’t in her name, but instead, in the name of Huw H (the full name isn’t being used). She also realized that his name had been printed on the luggage tags.
So when she shared that, the airline reportedly responded that there’s no way she could have traveled with someone else’s documents. They refused to believe her, and as a result, the BBC had to buy her a new flight home (the airline has since refunded the cost of the extra ticket, and has given her a £500 goodwill voucher).
How could something like this happen?
It goes without saying that both the check-in agent and gate agent are supposed to verify that the name on the boarding pass matches the name on the passport. So how could this happen?
The woman does mention that her married name starts with the letter “H,” just like Huw H, but it’s otherwise a very different last name.
The journalist did some internet sleuthing, and managed to get in touch with someone who had a similar name — Jonathan Huw H — who flew on a British Airways flight a day after her, landing at Heathrow. However, he wasn’t booked on this particular flight.
A British Airways spokesperson (since the airline does ground handling for Iberia) has issued the following statement in regards to this:
“We’ve contacted our customer to apologise for this genuine human error. While incidents like this are extremely rare, we’ve taken proactive steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
I’m still puzzled by how this would happen. Mistakes happen, and I can understand how every once in a while, a check-in agent might somehow accidentally print the boarding pass for the wrong person. I can also understand how very rarely, a gate agent might not notice that names don’t match. Now, you’d hope that both of those things don’t happen with the same passenger, but obviously once in a while, it does.
But here’s the part I can’t wrap my head around. I would assume that she was handed a boarding pass for someone actually booked on the flight, no? The system is unlikely to just generate random names and create boarding passes for people who aren’t booked on the flight.
So you would think that if this mistake were made, it would at the latest be caught when two people try to board a flight with the same identity. Did it just so happen to be that the person named on the boarding pass no showed, after being booked on the flight?
Bottom line
A journalist accidentally traveled on a flight out of Heathrow under the wrong identity. She couldn’t check-in online, but then presented her passport at the check-in counter, was handed a boarding pass, and boarded with that boarding pass. Only after landing in Madrid did she realize that the boarding pass was in fact in someone else’s name, as her return flight had been canceled.
Anyone have any insights as to how this could happen?
About ten years ago I flew Garuda from Jakarta to Yogyakarta with a friend. We checked in together at the counter and got our boarding passes.
We went to the gate, which was crowded with passengers from another flight already in it. When we were informed of a flight delay, we exited the gate and went to the lounge.
After a good while, we went back to the gate and this time, there...
About ten years ago I flew Garuda from Jakarta to Yogyakarta with a friend. We checked in together at the counter and got our boarding passes.
We went to the gate, which was crowded with passengers from another flight already in it. When we were informed of a flight delay, we exited the gate and went to the lounge.
After a good while, we went back to the gate and this time, there were passengers from another TWO flights in it. People were seated on the chairs, on the floor, etc. when it was about time to board, I fished for my boarding pass and couldn’t find it. Panicked, I searched my pockets, left the gate to search the lounge and had no choice but to return to the counter for a replacement boarding pass.
I produced my ID again and got the replacement and raced back to the gate. My friend had already boarded and the gate was almost empty.
When the gate agent tried to scan my pass, she got an error. She tried again and got the error again. After four tries, she gave up and waved me on board.
I found my friend on board and took the seat next to him. Only then did we realise that I had actually originally lost HIS pass and he had boarded using MY pass. No wonder the gate agent got errors when she tried to scan my pass “again”.
Worryingly she waved me on and even though another agent came on to check if my friend had boarded (the system didn’t record that he had), they simply accepted a simple vocal confirmation instead of checking IDs.
It could have been anyone sitting in our two seats the way things were!
Things like this happen more often than you think. Had a coworker make it all the way BOS-MIA-GRU without a Brazilian visa (was in his old passport, which he forgot to bring). Every AA agent failed to check his passport/mistook his Bolivian visa for Brazil
When he was inevitably denied entry to Brazil, AA had to pay fines and flew him back in J since they failed to follow the proper protocols
I know Heathrow quite well and have mentioned multiple times to BA the security leak around passengers identity. Let me explain:
- the gate agent checks the name on your PRINTED (which could be forged) boarding pass against your passport name
- then, you just scan your boarding pass, which effectively marks the passenger encoded in the QR code as boarded
Anyone with bad intentions could very easily change the name on the...
I know Heathrow quite well and have mentioned multiple times to BA the security leak around passengers identity. Let me explain:
- the gate agent checks the name on your PRINTED (which could be forged) boarding pass against your passport name
- then, you just scan your boarding pass, which effectively marks the passenger encoded in the QR code as boarded
Anyone with bad intentions could very easily change the name on the printed boarding pass and travel under someone else's identity
I'm not suggesting this is what happened here, but I'm smiling when I here the airline saying "we don't understand how this is even possible".
And the plane landed safely as usual for these kind of circumstances. Goes to show passenger identity checks aren’t needed to keep a flight secure.
The name/name sequence on a passport need not match the names on the ticketed booking to get checked in on a booking pulled up manually by check-in agent. After a reservation is pulled up by a check-in agent, passport info can be manually loaded anyway even if the biodata/MRZ names...
And the plane landed safely as usual for these kind of circumstances. Goes to show passenger identity checks aren’t needed to keep a flight secure.
The name/name sequence on a passport need not match the names on the ticketed booking to get checked in on a booking pulled up manually by check-in agent. After a reservation is pulled up by a check-in agent, passport info can be manually loaded anyway even if the biodata/MRZ names wouldn’t load in as an exact match in names and sequence for the name fields in the ticketed booking record being used for check-in and fly.
And once the boarding pass shows as docs ok, gate agents tend to accept for boarding that which airline check-in agents and/or airline conformance agents have already accepted.
In other words GUWonder …. human error?
In other words, READ ID and other identity verifications are all your government (aka 3rd party outside contractor with weak security) spying on you under the excuse of national security.
This seems to be a case of human error(s), but it’s not always human error when the name on the ticketed PNR isn’t an exact match in name and sequence as that on a passport and/or ID card that is accepted for a manual check-in, boarding & travel.
Face recognition electronic boarding gate would not allow this to happen
Facial recognition technology doesn’t necessarily preclude the ability to travel by getting checked in on a booking under someone else’s name & PNR.
Ironically for someone using the name "Anonymous".
Face recognition electronic boarding gate would not allow you to remain anonymous.
Well, in Germany you don't need an ID to fly. Not at security nor at the gate. Just the boarding pass.
In the UK it's a bit strange because they check ID at the Gate.
Did she look a bit like the other person and the picture looked similar?
I would like to point out that this is flat-out wrong. I am MUC-based and have had my ID checked plenty times, when flying both LHG and non-LHG airlines.
That's not wrong. As long as you stay in the Schengen Area no one checks IDs. In MUC, too. Where does LH check IDs in MUC if you don't see an agent?
Interesting.
Easyjet, Wizzair and Ryanair all require photo ID for all flights, which they match to boarding card at the gate.
Passport always acceptable; Schengen National ID card for within Schengen, sometimes driving licences for domestic.
Those airlines probably want to make procedures as consistent as possible, so "Always check ID to board pass at gate"
German regulations may well not require airlines to generally check ID for domestic flights.
And...
Interesting.
Easyjet, Wizzair and Ryanair all require photo ID for all flights, which they match to boarding card at the gate.
Passport always acceptable; Schengen National ID card for within Schengen, sometimes driving licences for domestic.
Those airlines probably want to make procedures as consistent as possible, so "Always check ID to board pass at gate"
German regulations may well not require airlines to generally check ID for domestic flights.
And Lufthansa may decide to have different procedures for domestic flights.
International intra-Schengen largely does require ID at the moment: 13 of the 29 countries currently have Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control: https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/schengen/schengen-area/temporary-reintroduction-border-control_en
(I did once use a Schengen residence card departing the UK for Schengen without being challenged - I doubt most gate agents could distinguish an ID-card from a residence card in a foreign language)
@Betty LH checks IDs during boarding. Even with a digital boarding pass i more often than not have to show my ID. Same applies to AMS or CDG.
Also, you seem to forget that travelling to/from the UK to EU now requires a passport. So while it is possible that no one checks your ID on domestic flights, she absolutely had to show her passport when leaving and entering the UK.
I flew out of MUC dozens of time and no one ever checked my ID at the gate when departing on an internal Lufthansa Group flight. They do check IDs for external (non-Schengen flights) for obvious reasons but otherwise you usually just use self-service boarding and never even speak to anyone who could verify your ID.
LCCs are another matter, those do tend to do ID checks for revenue protection.
At the boarding gate!
I fly international intra-Schengen flights very frequently — something on the order this month of people going to and from school. Whether there is an ID check for me on my intra-Schengen cross-border flights depends on the airline and/or route and/or baggage situation. On some of my most frequented such routes, there is never an ID check for me; on other routes or with some other airlines, there usually is an ID check hitting me...
I fly international intra-Schengen flights very frequently — something on the order this month of people going to and from school. Whether there is an ID check for me on my intra-Schengen cross-border flights depends on the airline and/or route and/or baggage situation. On some of my most frequented such routes, there is never an ID check for me; on other routes or with some other airlines, there usually is an ID check hitting me at the gates.
I prefer flying on routes and airlines where it’s easy to fly on a ticket for passenger Mickey Mousse.
Why would it matter if she looked similar to the other person? She would present her own ID or passport and surely she’d look vaguely like herself…
What’s more interesting is whether there was any similarity in the names.
There might have been some bug in her booking to begin with, as she couldn’t check in online or at the kiosk.
In the end she was simply mis-ID‘d by the agent. Happened...
Why would it matter if she looked similar to the other person? She would present her own ID or passport and surely she’d look vaguely like herself…
What’s more interesting is whether there was any similarity in the names.
There might have been some bug in her booking to begin with, as she couldn’t check in online or at the kiosk.
In the end she was simply mis-ID‘d by the agent. Happened to me before as well, when I was told I had already checked in (which I hadn’t). In my case someone with a similar name was mis-ID‘d for myself. Occasionally happens in hotels too.
As far as security is concerned, I don’t see this as a big deal as everybody is screened for dangerous items which you may not bring onboard. If you bring a fake name or not is quite irrelevant for the safety of the flight.
Back in 1990, I replaced a colleague on a business trip and just used his ticket. Times have changed.
Still very much possible for a large portion of intra-EU flights :) DACH, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Poland, Baltics are just few examples where no ID checks exist for internal flights (to Schengen). But officially it's not allowed and if you get caught, you may be in trouble.
And how did she get through the security check?
@ Joe -- At Heathrow, security generally just requires scanning or showing your boarding pass. There's no verification of the boarding pass matching the travel document, as far as I know.
Ben is correct.
Whereas in the USA, ID is required to enter the departure area, but not always a boarding pass.
(I was very grateful for this a few months ago at DFW)
No ID check to use the main security checkpoints at LHR terminals to get airside. A boarding pass is what provides access to those security checkpoints.
Sorry, too much missing from this story to make sense
@ Michael -- Well, we know everything that happened from the passenger's side, and this is a pretty reputable person who has reached out to every party imaginable. The only thing missing is that the airline is refusing to speak about it, for "security" reasons.
Really Ben, a BBC journalist who is actually “Reputable”? …. not this century old bean …. :-)
No doubt the thought Police will be knocking upon my door very soon.
It’s actually more common than you may think although versus the number of people flying daily, minuscule. The main issue is if there’s an incident the “ correct “ passenger isn’t on the passenger name list. There are also cases of passengers being boarded on the wrong airline to a complete different destination.