Skiplagging is a very old practice. What's new here is just the website.
Before 9/11 there was nothing the airlines could do to stop it because you didn't have to show ID to match your ticket. So they couldn't ban you even if they figured out you were skiplagging.
Now they can and they do. Which is why the airlines love that the government "forces" them to check your ID.
> Now they can and they do. Which is why the airlines love that the government "forces" them to check your ID.
Where is this happening? On over 100 domestic flights post-9/11, I've never had an airline review my ID - only on international flights has this occurred.
The TSA or their private equivalent will match your ID to a boarding pass, but even now that's going away at major airports in favor of ID scans.
Regardless, given the above: there's nothing stopping you from booking a refundable fare on Airline B (or even a $0 Frontier flight), using that boarding pass to get through security, and then using whatever name you want on a flight with Airline A.
Yes there is. The airlines used to check IDs themselves. Now their computers talk to those of the TSA so the TSA effectively does this for them.
In your scenario, when you fail to board Airplane B that event gets flagged. Not a huge deal but you might have a problem getting a refund. When you try to board Airplane A the fun begins. You will be stopped because the ID for that boarding pass never went through a TSA checkpoint.
What if you go back through TSA again, this time with the other boarding pass? They only check IDs now, so you'd need a second ID that also had your picture on it. Drivers licences were easy to forge 20 years ago. Not so much now, especially with the RealID mandate.
Even then it wouldn't work because TSA has face recognition now. If you try to go through a second time with a different ID but a similar face on the same day, you will almost certainly be detained and probably arrested.
I agree with most of your points, except I'm not sure about this:
> when you fail to board Airplane B that event gets flagged. Not a huge deal but you might have a problem getting a refund
The passenger would cancel that refundable B ticket right after security, before boarding begins. Or is this impossible after checking into the flight which happens before security?
> The airlines used to check IDs themselves. Now their computers talk to those of the TSA so the TSA effectively does this for them.
Have you flown pre-9/11? I've never had an airline check my ID domestically, pre or post-9/11 in any TSA or privately-secured airport. When did this magical computer integration happen? Citation? How do I start an airline? - relevant CFRs and required systems capabilities should be publicly documented?
> You will be stopped because the ID for that boarding pass never went through a TSA checkpoint.
Citation needed. Personal experience absolutely differs here. These are archaic systems and can't even handle middle names consistently.
Also, what a joke: my unmarried passport has a completely different name, but I am flying with a boarding pass ticketed to my married-name DL. My wife does this regularly and it's not illegal.
In the last several years even, I've purchased countless flights post-security, sometimes tens of minutes prior to boarding. These people are just not this organized.
"Fallacies programmers believe about X" applies here: names
and DOBs are far less "matchable" than you'd believe them to be.
> What if you go back through TSA again, this time with the other boarding pass? They only check IDs now, so you'd need a second ID that also had your picture on it. Drivers licences were easy to forge 20 years ago. Not so much now, especially with the RealID mandate.
It's a wonder where a $2000 Zebra dye sublimation printer and $3 Chinese-origin multi-spectrum holographic overlaminates will take you. Add a PDF417 barcode with zero authentication and you've got a pretty simple task.
> Even then it wouldn't work because TSA has face recognition now. If you try to go through a second time with a different ID but a similar face on the same day, you will almost certainly be detained and probably arrested.
So, opt-out of facial recognition in favor of enhanced screening? I do this regardless of any other factors
How does this even make sense?.. Twins can't fly together without detention? My doppelganger is now going to invite law enforcement scrutiny? The point of this facial recognition wasn't to prevent fake or duplicate real IDs, it was to prevent people using IDs without matching photos and tricking incompetent minimum-wage screeners.
Singular dollars in makeup and the correct lighting conditions completely destroy these matching systems, as well.
You've got a wildly overinflated view of the competency and the capabilities of this government jobs program: probably exactly what they are going for.
Before 9/11 there was nothing the airlines could do to stop it because you didn't have to show ID to match your ticket. So they couldn't ban you even if they figured out you were skiplagging.
Now they can and they do. Which is why the airlines love that the government "forces" them to check your ID.