# I boarded a domestic (Australia) flight without showing ID to anyone. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2015, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027 "2015-01-05T11:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/21 "2015-01-06T13:07:51Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > 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. I remember reading that the Author, Kit Williams was turned away from a UK domestic flight because his passport was in his full name of Christopher Williams and he had booked the flight as Kit. They apparently would not accept that “Kit” was a usual diminutive of “Christopher”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/22 "2015-01-06T14:16:28Z")
Meanwhile, last year in the USA my middle name (Stephen) was misspelled (Steven) on the boarding pass due to my office manager’s inattention. I almost missed my flight. Thanks TSA! ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/23 "2015-01-07T08:29:00Z")
Last week I flew from Guadeloupe (an overseas department of France) to Paris. At boarding, the airline staff made a point of telling us they didn’t need to see our passports. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/24 "2015-01-07T09:53:21Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > 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. Yeah, but it seems to me we could deal with that the same way we deal with bad behaviour when _not_ on an aeroplane - eg, drunk and disorderly in public - get arrested. Since the system as is seems to basically work, I hope they don’t decide to go changing it any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/25 "2015-01-07T10:41:55Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Yeah, but it seems to me we could deal with that the same way we deal with bad behaviour when _not_ on an aeroplane - eg, drunk and disorderly in public - get arrested. > > Since the system as is seems to basically work, I hope they don’t decide to go changing it any time soon. I agree, I’m not interested in change either. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/26 "2015-01-07T10:47:54Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > 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…) With terrorism you would think you would need a passport and ID every where. Sound really strange. May be fore 911 terrorist attack that was not the case. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/27 "2015-01-07T11:10:53Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > Last week I flew from Guadeloupe (an overseas department of France) to Paris. At boarding, the airline staff made a point of telling us they didn’t need to see our passports. That seems reasonable since the flight is no doubt considered to be going from one part of France to another, and is thus domestic. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/28 "2015-01-07T11:12:50Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > With terrorism you would think you would need a passport and ID every where. Why would you need a passport to fly within a country? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/29 "2015-01-07T11:17:34Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Why would you need a passport to fly within a country? Okay I did not know that is what the OP was doing. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/30 "2015-01-08T06:43:04Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > That seems reasonable since the flight is no doubt considered to be going from one part of France to another, and is thus domestic. Yes. Interestingly, however, I had to go through immigration and customs on my way to Paris - but **not** on my way to Guadeloupe. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/31 "2015-01-08T12:54:37Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Why would you need a passport to fly within a country? I had to show my US passport in Chicago to get on a flight back to Baltimore, because the security guy at the checkpoint didn’t believe that my EU driving licence was a valid, government document. (My driving licence has a photo, address, &c just like a US driver’s license; the only reason I had my passport is because I hadn’t taken it out of my bag from my flight over to the US. This was not a connecting flight on that leg of the trip, but a standalone, domestic flight – I’d been in the US for a week already, then flown out to Chicago with a friend for a couple days, and we were flying back to her house in Frederick for the rest of my visit.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/32 "2015-01-09T16:49:05Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > 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. That wouldn’t work in Canada. At the gate, they scan your boarding pass and check the name on the system. If you had a boarding pass with a wrong name on it, they would catch it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/33 "2015-01-09T17:57:06Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > That wouldn’t work in Canada. At the gate, they scan your boarding pass and check the name on the system. If you had a boarding pass with a wrong name on it, they would catch it. Do they check the ID at the gate? They do what you say above in the US, too, but don’t check the ID, just that the boarding pass matches the name in the system. It’s not something I would ever try myself, though, but he’s saying at TSA you show your ID with the altered boarding pass, then at the gate present the real boarding pass under your assumed name. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/34 "2015-01-09T18:33:18Z")
Yes, boarding pass plus ID, at the airline gate. But, in any event, he’s suggesting that he can present a photoshopped boarding pass with your real name, while the ticket was booked under a different name. That would show up - the name on the boarding pass wouldn’t match the name on their records. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/35 "2015-01-09T19:01:19Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Yes, boarding pass plus ID, at the airline gate. > > But, in any event, he’s suggesting that he can present a photoshopped boarding pass with your real name, while the ticket was booked under a different name. That would show up - the name on the boarding pass wouldn’t match the name on their records. The TSA just checks the ID and the boarding pass, no computers (at least as I remember. Perhaps I’m not remembering correctly.) At the gate, you show the “real” pass with the assumed name. When it’s scanned, the same name shows up on the computer as on the pass, since that is what you made the reservation under. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/36 "2015-01-09T19:09:50Z")
Looking online, it does appear that TSA sometimes checks IDs at the gate, so, among many other reasons, it’s not something I would mess with. Come to think of it, I’m now doubting whether they don’t scan you pass at the pre-security check, I just flew out in November, and I can’t remember for certain. (I am sure they didn’t check IDs at the gate, though.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027/37 "2015-01-09T19:21:17Z")
Now that I think more about it, I think I am wrong. First, there’s a free-standing security agent that just quickly checks your ID and boarding pass. Then, when you get to the desk before security, there is someone who checks you out more in-depth on a computer. I assume they are not just checking your name on a no-fly list, but checking your ID vs bookings that are in the system for the airport. So **Shalmanese’s** method wouldn’t work, even if they don’t check IDs at the gate…and you’d have a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-boarded-a-domestic-australia-flight-without-showing-id-to-anyone/709027.md?page=1)