Hacker News Reader

Comment by proaralyst | Hacker News Reader

Or you can check id at the gate

No idea why you're getting downvoted. They check ids at the gates in Europe (though very inconsistently, probably depends on the airline)

Because boarding a flight was already miserable enough

This doesn't really make a difference. You just show ID & boarding pass instead of just a boarding pass. You already have your ID on you. It's literally just a case of taking an extra thing out of your pocket.

This is how it works in Europe and it never even crossed my mind that it could be annoying.

It's annoying because sometimes they don't check your ID :)

It's also a bit annoying because you don't really add an actual document you really want to keep safe into the mix (and the rush)

Here in NZ you don’t need ID. There is zero checking for domestic. Wonder how long until someone ruins that.

> This is how it works in Europe and it never even crossed my mind that it could be annoying.

I've taken many flights in Europe without id check, see also: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/180781/what-deter...

It's not really a big deal if someone sneaks on board, therefore, no reason to burden millions of flyers every day with additional checks. Also, you may well not have ID on you. Maybe you don't like to carry it. Maybe you forgot your wallet. Maybe you don't even have one. Who cares?

Most companies tell you the name of the tickets you purchase must absolutely match the name on your ID, so no you can't just not carry it if you are flying.

So it really depends on airlines AND departure/destination laws. Like if you are flying in or out of Spain, I am 100% positive you need your ID.

Not on internal flights in Norway. Not at Trondheim at least. There the whole process is automated and handled by the customer. It goes like this:

- drop bag on the belt

- present the credit card used to buy the ticket

- attach the baggage tag that gets printed

- record your thumbprint

- go through security

- walk to the gate and use your thumbprint to enter the gate area

- The gate staff just count people on to the flight.

I fly out of Stuttgart, Germany, with Eurowings a lot and if it wasn't for the payment process, I could fly completely anonymous, i.e. even under a fake name. Not possible to pay in cash AFAIK, and having a credit card or a checking account under a fake name is much more difficult.

If I even have a bag to check, I present the boarding pass to the machine. After that, there is no thumbprint check, no ID check, no photographs, nothing. Even internationally (within Schengen).

The thumbprint is optional at Trondheim I think. You can use your credit card instead. It's just a convenience for the traveller. There are no boarding passes.

Often you only have one acceptable ID on you and if you lose that because you're fumbling around with things at 6am in the morning, you can be screwed.

After somehow losing my driver's license one morning between the curb and the airport door--no idea how to this day--I always use my Global Entry card when I can to present ID because it's essentially a spare ID.

So, yeah, I prefer not to present ID any more than I have to.

They did an e-passport check at the boarding gate every time I took a flight in the last 10 years at least, in Europe.

Depends on the country, airport, airline.

Horrible airlines like ryanair and wizzair id check because they monetize typos (made a typo? Real risk of refused boarding, and changing the name costs money).

I usually fly KLM/AF and I get id checked on less than 5% of the flights I take within the Schengen zone.

Ryanair's passport policy predates Schengen and is largely driven by Ireland's aviation rules on pax ID, not any Revenue-driven measure.

The do that so that you can't resell your ticket.

I always assumed that scanning a boarding pass means it's marked as "used" and would flag up if scanned again. Or at the very least, previous scans would immediately show up so the attendant can verify.

Scans also track how many have boarded, and who has boarded. So that they can run a "Mr and Mrs X, haul your ass to the gate now"

Some airports are deliberately quiet, Copenhagen for instance is or used to be. So they don't do that. If you miss your flight it's your problem.

As is OSL / Oslo Gardermoen, but on occasion they will use the PA to find late pax, at least on international flights. Presumably there's more paperwork if there's a no-show, I don't know.

Anyway, sitting in a bar there a few years ago, waiting for my flight, I hear a series of progressively more strongly worded announcements for pax X and Y to get to the gate or else.

Noone shows. Then the 'This is absolutely, positively, make no mistake about it final call for flight such-and-such, gate closes in 30 seconds.'-announcement.

At which point the two men at the table next to me get up and stroll over to the nearmost gate.

I almost fist-pumped when the gate attendant just looked at them (eyes ablaze!) and said 'Sorry, gate just closed!' then proceeded to inform whoever was listening on the VHF that pax X and Y were no-shows, presumably to have their luggage located and offloaded.

Love it when entitled people like that get their comeuppance!

Punctuality is expected here so I have a lot of sympathy with the gate attendant.

Indeed! Just a quick question to satisfy my curiosity - seeing as you fly out of Trondheim, work with embedded systems and have a background in physics, would you happen to be named Jostein and have a dark past frequenting Omega Verksted and occasionally also Akademisk Radioklubb c. 2000?

No to all those questions! Especially the dark past! :-)

But thank you, you made me laugh out loud!

I once was one of 10 unrelated paxes that missed their flight because announcements were very quiet and boarding window was very short. Not sure whether 10% of the flight manifest were all entitled or the gate attendant was mean.

What I wrote was a bit unclear: They want to avoid that you buy a low cost ticket and resell it to somebody else a day before the flight (because you either cannot make it or because you want to make money).

Yeah, it is bizarre.

Common logic dictates if it is done in Europe, it makes sense and we might as well just do it.

Edit: Unfortunate my sarcasm went largely unnoticed.

> if it is done in Europe, it makes sense and we might as well just do it.

Often true but a terrible universal rule.

I'm not aware of any EU regulation requiring ID checks at the gate, and accordingly this depends on the country. Most leave it up to the airline, I think.

I've flown inside Schengen without ever showing my ID at any point of the trip many times.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com