Young boy takes flight from BRU to Malaga without any papers

[airazurxtror]

In "Le Soir", today, page 40.
Nayel G., a little boy of Uccle (Brussels), aged 12, wanted not to go back home tuesday after school.
He went to Brussels Airport, without any money, Identity Card or passport, and boarded the Jetairfly flight to Malaga.
Whilst there was a frantic search for him in Brussels, he was spotted by the Malaga airport security, who found strange for a young boy to walk alone with his scholl satchel on his back and about to go away from the terminal.
The Malaga airport security has advised the family to lodge a complaint against Brussels Airport.

http://www.lavenir.net/article/detail.a ... 9_00266787

[sn26567]

How could that boy pass through the multiple security checks? It seems that some people will hear their ears ring a lot:

• The people responsible for the tickets check at the entrance of the passage to Terminal A
• The people responsible for checking the tickets and ID cards at the gate
• The cabin crew of Jetairfly that did not count the right number of people on the flight before departure

It is incredible that so many people failed in their (not so difficult) tasks.

[quixoticguide]

If he has a smartphone and booked a ticket then is this possible. Otherwise ... ?

[RoMax]

It is incredible that so many people failed in their (not so difficult) tasks.

Indeed, and that's why I question parts of this story... I would like to know more about it...

[cnc]

omg to both swissport and the cabin crew

[air belgium]

Cabin crew made a big mistake.

[KriVa]

On a flight to Malaga, the Cabin Crew is not supposed to count the number of pax on board. A head count to those destinations is only done when irregularities are suspected or expected. This should have been done at the gate.
How the boy passed security and the gate checks without a valid ticket or ID, is another question.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

The boy is the ultimate avgeek ! Respect !

A big ! big ! disgrace for BRU Airport, handling agents and sorry Kriva, JAF also...
How could this be possible..
Anyone, a little boy without boarding pass,valid ID passing gate/customs-check.. with his schoolbackpack !

Cabin Crew should have noticed this also.. a youngster travelling alone needs some special treatment no ?
Last time I noticed some plastic tag around the necks of even 16years old girls !!!!
Shame !

IMO the family of the kid deserves a free holiday with JAF and some financial support of BRU Airport !
A free ! safety excersice at no cost ..
Remembers me of the TV show where Tom and Bart enters a cockpit and start playing !!

Nothing learned since then, customs still on strike or just sleeping ?

CXB

[cnc]

On a flight to Malaga, the Cabin Crew is not supposed to count the number of pax on board

since when is a head count not necessary? i assume you also think the pax list and seating plan are printen and given to the crew just to waste some paper?

A big ! big ! disgrace for BRU Airport

?

[KriVa]

Cnc, trust me on this one. I know very well why we print out a passenger list and a seating plan. Head counts towards those destinations are not mandatory.
I have written proof in front of me.
Also, if the young boy followed a family very closely, it'd be rather easy to see them as one family. Although the missing ticket should have been a red flag at the entry of the aeroplane, he never should have been at the door of the aircraft in the first place.

[RoMax]

Head counts only happens on non-Schengen flights I believe? At least I saw it last summer on the BRU-Djerba-BRU flights I took with JAF, but never saw it before on flights in the Schengen zone with JAF.

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Big disgrace for bru.airport indeed.
Failure of security checks,..
An unidentified minor could enter a plane without any hassle, without control without any papers...
This is a big failure imo, and even not detected at gate,in air,..
And anybody,even on the plane noticed this boy was travelling without parents..
I know quite some youngsters and due to their behaviour somenone should have taken notice on a plus two hours flight..
Guess this shows us how people take care of eachother nowadays..

CXB

[KriVa]

To be fair, I can actually see several, very hard to control, scenarios where this sort of thing could have happened. And while I don't know what happened exactly, I think it's a safe bet to say that the blame for this mishap did not rest with one person.

[crew1990]

What I don't understand is why the Belgian Airlines doesn't check the boarding pass when Pax board the aircraft, they do it in Ryanair and Easyjet, why not in Belgium.

How could that boy pass through the multiple security checks? It seems that some people will hear their ears ring a lot:
The people responsible for the tickets check at the entrance of the passage to Terminal A
The people responsible for checking the tickets and ID cards at the gate
The cabin crew of Jetairfly that did not count the right number of people on the flight before departure
It is incredible that so many people failed in their (not so difficult) tasks.

Maybe this job is not so difficult, but this is very repititive and people are not robot, the mistake is human.

This is why they shoul be more check like for example the cabin crew could check the boarding pass when people board the aircraft. They do it at Ryanair and Easyjet and many other company lowcost and highcost, why none of our Belgian Airlines do it?

[RCMike]

Hey,

At the boarding of shengen flights (and when they are 4 in the back) a cabin crew of jetairfly assists the gate agent with the boarding. They are not used to boarding an aircraft, keeping organisation in the boarding area, etc... many times ticket counts at the gate resulted with a difference from the checked-in pax number. Then a headcount is requested by the gate agent.

Since the boy had no ticket, the amount of boarding cards and the checked in pax number probably was the same... No headcount was necessary.

In my opinion a headcount should be mandatory, proven by this case, again...

Mike

[sn26567]

The responsible gate agents have been suspended, pending the results of the inquiry.

[Flanker2]

Aren't headcounts mandatory? Amateurs.
In the U.S., they check your ticket at the security checkpoint. Why not in Europe?

What about this new policy of putting an unmanned post to access the terminals at BRU?
What about the lack of patrols in the terminals? In CDG you have military patrols carrying automatic weapons.

Every once in a while we hear of drug busts at BRU. That also puts airport workers in harm's way because it's lack of security that allows drug lords to force innocent airport employees to become couriers and carry drugs in and out of the airport for them. If there is no tolerance and very tight perimeter control, drug lords will look for new airports to do business from and leave low income hard workers at BRU alone.

BRU is really asking for trouble.

[Boavida]

Aren't headcounts mandatory? Amateurs.
In the U.S., they check your ticket at the security checkpoint. Why not in Europe?

What about this new policy of putting an unmanned post to access the terminals at BRU?
What about the lack of patrols in the terminals? In CDG you have military patrols carrying automatic weapons.

Every once in a while we hear of drug busts at BRU. That also puts airport workers in harm's way because it's lack of security that allows drug lords to force innocent airport employees to become couriers and carry drugs in and out of the airport for them. If there is no tolerance and very tight perimeter control, drug lords will look for new airports to do business from and leave low income hard workers at BRU alone.

BRU is really asking for trouble.

Very well said.

I have visited many airports in my life and everywhere you see security and police patrols in the terminals. But not in BRU. I can't even remember I ever saw a police officer in the BRU terminal at all!

Security seems not to be taken seriously at BRU. It even looks amateuristic, certainly after this new incident.

[BRU]

Is BRU to blame or is it federal police who is responsable for this (not talking about the boy who boarded a plane unnoticed) ? Shouln't we make a difference between airport inspection responsable for securing the airport zone and fed pol responsable for overall security and patrolling ?

[chrisflyer]

Head counts only happens on non-Schengen flights I believe? At least I saw it last summer on the BRU-Djerba-BRU flights I took with JAF, but never saw it before on flights in the Schengen zone with JAF.

Why would the destination (Schengen or non-Schengen) be the only condition for a head count? I do agree that the airline has an extra incentive to avoid stowaways when there is a risk the stowaway won't be able to get through immigration on the other side and needs to be repatriated on the airline's nickel.

Nevertheless, surely the main rationale for having a head count is to ensure the actual pax on board matches the load sheet. As far as I know, the captain will only sign the load sheet when there is a one-to-one match between the pax listed and pax on board. Not sure if it's a regulatory requirement, or airline procedure, and whether the number passing through the gate suffices when the aircraft is connected by jetway?

Been on a GVA to BRU flight (intra-Schengen) this last Thursday, and there was definitely a head count prior to closing the doors. This was EZY and a jetway was being used.

Chris