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).
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?
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