I’m not familiar with this, but she could easily have gotten a cheap local ticket, gotten through TSA, and then boarded a different, international flight. She’d have had to sneak past the gate attendants, but that’s probably easier than getting past TSA.
Or, get a job working at one of the shops behind security, and go from there. Or as a baggage handler, or a janitor… getting past TSA doesn’t seem challenging if you plan ahead a little and are planning on fleeing the country anyway.
Heck, I don’t know how closely they monitor the plane cleaners, but that gets you on the plane. With an accomplice to handle things like any after-cleaning headcount, it might be downright easy.
Yeah I think the vast majority of airport security is definitely security theater. Based on the fact she wasn’t caught until mid flight, you’re exactly right that getting past security and getting through the gate onto the plane wasn’t a challenge. Honestly I’m curious how they caught her while she was on board. I feel like if she had found a quiet empty window seat and pretended to sleep the whole flight she wouldn’t have been discovered. But maybe economy was full and she tried to sneak her way into first class or something
Edit: From the original article about her sneaking aboard
The flight was not sold out, and she was discovered when a flight attendant became concerned that the woman was making frequent and lengthy visits to various lavatories aboard the Boeing 767-400ER, according to a source familiar with the incident.
So yeah, she was dumb and bounced around the plane a bunch making the flight attendants look up who she was. My comment rings true
I’m not familiar with this, but she could easily have gotten a cheap local ticket, gotten through TSA, and then boarded a different, international flight. She’d have had to sneak past the gate attendants, but that’s probably easier than getting past TSA.
Or, get a job working at one of the shops behind security, and go from there. Or as a baggage handler, or a janitor… getting past TSA doesn’t seem challenging if you plan ahead a little and are planning on fleeing the country anyway.
Heck, I don’t know how closely they monitor the plane cleaners, but that gets you on the plane. With an accomplice to handle things like any after-cleaning headcount, it might be downright easy.
Yeah I think the vast majority of airport security is definitely security theater. Based on the fact she wasn’t caught until mid flight, you’re exactly right that getting past security and getting through the gate onto the plane wasn’t a challenge. Honestly I’m curious how they caught her while she was on board. I feel like if she had found a quiet empty window seat and pretended to sleep the whole flight she wouldn’t have been discovered. But maybe economy was full and she tried to sneak her way into first class or something
Edit: From the original article about her sneaking aboard
So yeah, she was dumb and bounced around the plane a bunch making the flight attendants look up who she was. My comment rings true