It’s a short trip, no luggage to check, so I did what any sane person does: check in online, print the boarding pass at home, head straight to security. This was at the Sydney airport.
No one checked my ID at security. A woman directed me into a queue, they put my bags through the scanner, I walked through the metal detector. I actually got pulled aside for a chemical swab test. Test completed, I proceed to my gate, I board the plane.
At no point did anyone ask to see any sort of photo ID.
Is this normal for domestic travel in Australia, or was someone seriously slacking off from their job today? I’ve never not had my ID checked before in any country, but almost all my prior air travel has been either domestic within the US, or international.
(And I’m not particularly concerned about it, because I know that security is a multi-tiered process, there’s further safeguards, etc…)
That is normal. You can do the whole the thing without interacting with anybody other than the flight attendant. Check in online, automatic baggage check in at the airport, show the boarding pass to the flight attendant and on you go. There’s nothing really stopping you from giving someone your ticket if you wanted to.
Australian here. Actually I don’t believe this is normal, I’ve always shown ID either when checking in or when boarding at the gate, they’ve checked my ID against the boarding pass.
yes it is a normal experience, americans seem to expect the whole world has their insane security system for the airports. I was shocked in reverse the first time I flew in the us domestically
I had the same thing happen with a domestic flight within Germany. Not sure if that was a fluke or standard operating procedure.
And once my passport was stolen on the highway between Madrid and Barcelona. The next day I had to fly back to Madrid and I managed to convince the airline to let me fly with my company ID, which anyone with a laminator could have made.
The main risk would be that someone who was banned from flying (for causing a disturbance on a flight for example) can get their friends to buy a ticket for them allowing them to be disturbing again.
I don’t even know any more. I just know that not so long ago they were sometimes really particular in UK airports about whether you were the actual ticketholder. Took photos of you checking in and then checked the photo against you and your ticket. Happened me in Aberdeen airport.
Checks have been relaxed. There are random checks.
Before 9/11, Australian airlines were doing identity checks to prevent people buying cheap tickets and transfering the ticket to someone else. The internet has changed their pricing structure and dealer network, and as the security checks have been relaxed, they haven’t maintained their old pricing checks.
You can also fly under any name you want with American style ID checks. Book a ticket online under an assumed name, print out a copy of your boarding pass with your assumed name and another copy with your real name, modified using photoshop or another editing tool.
At security, show them your real ID and the boarding pass with your real name. Then, throw away that boarding pass and board the plane with the boarding pass with your assumed name.