Re:TSA considers new system for flyers without ID
by jedberg on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @05:11PM
(#24126032)
Before 2001 we never had to show ID. You just had to have a ticket. Any ticket. Frequent flyers used to buy tickets and sell them for a markup because they came with first class upgrades and other frequent flyer benefits.
Also people who couldn't make their trip would resell their tickets to someone else at a discount to recoup some of their costs. Also some people would buy cheap tickets on flights they knew would get popular and then resell them higher. They were arbitraging the airlines.
The airlines wanted to stop these practices, and had been demanding the government require ID since the 80s.
The government took advantage of the tragedy of 9/11 and pushed through an ID requirement.
There is no security benefit to ID. It turns out it's really easy for a terrorist to get a fake ID to match a fake name. The only purpose of this policy is to protect airline profits.
Also people who couldn't make their trip would resell their tickets to someone else at a discount to recoup some of their costs. Also some people would buy cheap tickets on flights they knew would get popular and then resell them higher. They were arbitraging the airlines.
The airlines wanted to stop these practices, and had been demanding the government require ID since the 80s.
The government took advantage of the tragedy of 9/11 and pushed through an ID requirement.
There is no security benefit to ID. It turns out it's really easy for a terrorist to get a fake ID to match a fake name. The only purpose of this policy is to protect airline profits.