Every so often we hear a story of a passenger boarding a flight without a ticket. There’s now a story out of Germany of someone who did exactly this on two consecutive days, which is kind of wild (thanks to Klaus for flagging this).
In this post:
Man boards two flights at Munich Airport without ticket
German authorities are investigating how a 39-year-old Norwegian national was recently able to board two flights at Munich Airport (MUC) on separate days without a ticket.
In the first incident, the man managed to clear security at Munich Airport Terminal 2 without a ticket, and was even able to board a Lufthansa flight without getting caught. The issue was that the flight was completely full, so he was caught when there was no available seat for him onboard. He was handed over to the police, but subsequently released.
The following day he did exactly the same thing. He once again successfully passed through security without a boarding pass, and managed to sneak onto Lufthansa flight LH2418 to Stockholm (ARN). Since the flight wasn’t full, he was able to travel on it without issue.
But then he got even greedier — he wanted to fly straight back to Munich on the same plane, and this is when he caught the crew’s attention. Authorities were called, and they also found a knife with a 10 centimeter blade on him. He’s now being charged in Germany for trespassing and fare evasion.
Meanwhile what a spokesperson for Munich Airport had to say:
“It will take some time to clarify 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 the check.”
Meanwhile here’s what the head of the police union in Germany had to say:
“I have never experienced 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.”
What was his motive, and how did he do it?
What was the man’s motive for trying to sneak onto flights at Munich Airport two days in a row? Police believe the man simply enjoys flying, and nothing more. That would also explain why he flew from Munich to Stockholm, and then tried to return on the same flight.
As far as the logistics of sneaking on the plane goes, Munich Airport has automated gates at security, where you scan your boarding pass to get into the security line. It’s believed that the man simply walked very close behind someone else to get through those automated gates.
It’s not clear how the man then managed to board the flight, but clearly he was sneaky enough so that the gate agents didn’t notice him.
While airport authorities are investigating this incident, I doubt we’ll see any major changes resulting from this. After all, automated gates do come with some risks, and as long as people are correctly screened at security, it’s not a huge deal, in my opinion. The fact that he had a knife on him is perhaps the more worrisome part of this story.
Bottom line
German authorities are looking into how a man was able to sneak through security and board Lufthansa flights without a ticket two days in a row. The first day, he ended up being kicked off the flight because it was sold out. He was then successful on the second day, and was only caught in Stockholm, when he tried to board the same flight to Munich that he had just arrived on.
What do you make of this Munich Airport incident?
What's unclear is how he chose a seat that had nobody assigned to it, twice and how he got through the security checkpoint. There are so many places in the airport nowadays you need to show a boarding pass.
@Ben, he didn't try to "return on the same flight", rather "on the same plane" or "on the same roundtrip".
If this man managed to get onboard Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways he would be properly charged with criminal trespass etc. etc.
But since he chose Lufthansa, it shows that he's clearly INSANE, and all charges should be dismissed on grounds of severe mental incapacity. No sane person would opt for Lufty..
Have just returned to London from Munich for a weekend break, this doesn’t surprise me. It was the worst airport I’ve ever encountered for border control - taking over 90 mins inbound to get my passport stamped and over 60 minutes to be checked upon return to London . Booths were poorly manned (only 1 open for none EU passports inbound) whilst 3 border force guards chatting and laughing with each other in the booth...
Have just returned to London from Munich for a weekend break, this doesn’t surprise me. It was the worst airport I’ve ever encountered for border control - taking over 90 mins inbound to get my passport stamped and over 60 minutes to be checked upon return to London . Booths were poorly manned (only 1 open for none EU passports inbound) whilst 3 border force guards chatting and laughing with each other in the booth for the eGates, which for much of the time zero persons were using. It’s clear the management of the border have no clue how to run an efficient service or focus on customers, so someone slipping through doesn’t surprise me at all!
Must agree. Munich airport somehow gets a lot of rave reviews, but every time I had to go through it was nasty. Biggest issue was with the randomness of the security screening. They managed to miss a knife (!) but randomly made me go through the screening line 4 times essentially completely emptying my bags.
And not that it makes or should make a massive difference, but I travel with an EU passport, have...
Must agree. Munich airport somehow gets a lot of rave reviews, but every time I had to go through it was nasty. Biggest issue was with the randomness of the security screening. They managed to miss a knife (!) but randomly made me go through the screening line 4 times essentially completely emptying my bags.
And not that it makes or should make a massive difference, but I travel with an EU passport, have a very distinctive German last name and (kinda) speak the language. To me it was obvious they were in need of some fun and I just happened to be entrainment
Obviously the automatic gate needs 2 set of doors to block tailgating.
He was European & "White" so no security needed. send them some of the Spirit passengers.they will learn fast!
Ryanair has entered the chat.
The downfall of automation and gates, when if an actual human was standing there asking each person for a boarding pass and passport he might have got caught.
Unless he just slid under the barrier somewhere and waited to sneak past.
Yes, simply things if all airlines just did headcounts might also have caught him out, unless he was hiding in the toilet.
Entering airside without a boarding pass: possible by tailgating behind another passenger.
Boarding a flight: either same technique if automated boarding gates are used, or just sneak past when the gate agent is distracted.
I'm just surprised the automated gate doesn't raise an alarm. Even the basic gates/turnstiles you see at office buildings have tailgating detection, and those are usually not high-security environments.
And yes, the biggest security threat is the cheap bottle of water we bring from home that we need to dump before security. Whatever!
I recently connected in Munich. I'm not surprised this happened. The airport is in utter chaos. Folks were breaking lines to board the aircraft; passengers were pushing wheelchairs to the aircraft due to a lack of ground personnel, and boarding was disorganized.
wouldn't happen on Delta
The police chief taking a jab at climate activist?
So the German police blames climate change on stowaways.
Nutcase seems to be a thing in Germany now.
Isn't it that the gate agent hands a pax list to the purser when boarding is completed? (passenger manifest)
Some (decent) airlines do a headcount before departure - and (in theory) should notice that there is one pax onboard who is not on the manifest. But that concept probably is too old fashioned.
Another point for German efficiency. Even the stowaways are highly productive!
As a German I do not want to take credit for efficiency or productivity of others. The stowaway was Norwegian.
Are you suggesting that a Norwegian is trolling Lufthansa?
It was once again time for a security incident at my home airport MUC. After all, the last incident was some time ago.
2022: MUC Terminal 2: Operations at Terminal 2 had to be interrupted for an hour due to a security incident involving a very tall passenger. "However, the passenger's impressive height enabled him to remove the baggage in a brief unobserved moment by reaching over the barrier - even before the final check-in process was completed."