Passengers evaded boarding pass checks at Zurich airport

Zurich airport saw some 11 million passengers last year Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The number of people bypassing airport boarding pass checks and getting airside without a ticket is increasing, according to an investigation by Swiss public broadcaster SRF. Zurich airport appears to be particularly affected.

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In June 2024, a woman at Zurich airport managed to board a plane without a ticket. She bypassed the boarding pass check by “quickly walking past the counter when the employee in question briefly turned away from the boarding pass check.” At the gate, the woman bypassed the check again and boarded a plane to Amsterdam.

Given the high security measures at the airport, this sounds outrageous, but this is recorded in a penalty notice obtained by SRF Investigativ. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) sentenced the woman to a final fine of CHF500 for “unauthorised entry into the security area.”

During police questioning, she stated that she had wanted to fly. But it never came to that. Bettina Kunz, media spokesperson for Zurich Airport, said: “On this plane, people were counted upon boarding, and if the headcount, or recount of heads, doesn’t match the paperwork, a check is carried out to determine whether there are too many passengers on board. That was the case here.”

Not an isolated case 

Despite her arrest, the Zurich woman tried again just a few weeks later. This time, according to the penalty notice, she wanted to visit friends in Barcelona. She stood close behind a person with a valid boarding pass and passed through the security checkpoint with them.

A man who, according to the penalty notice, was under the influence of alcohol, did exactly the same thing: “He wanted to conduct an experiment and test whether it was as easy to fly without a ticket as it was to travel by train.”

In general, incidents involving passengers are increasing and are being detected more easily thanks to sensors and cameras, says Kunz.

More cases at Zurich airport

Since 2018, airports have been required to inform the FOCA of unauthorised entry into the security area. The agency is responsible for prosecution.

An analysis of the penalty notices by SRF Investigativ shows that the number of people evading boarding pass checks is increasing, especially at Zurich airport, which recorded one case in 2023, four in 2024, and four this year, as of May.

Are these cases security-relevant? Not for Zurich airport. A distinction is made between boarding pass checks and security checks. Boarding pass checks take place upstream and at the gate. Security checks, on the other hand, involve checking baggage and people for security, and this can hardly be circumvented.

“Although some people travelled far without a boarding pass, they were subject to security checks. These cases are still concerning us, but they must be seen in perspective. Last year, almost 11 million local passengers flew from Zurich,” says Kunz.

There are known cases abroad where people were able to take off without a ticket, but not from Zurich, as far as is known. Last year, for example, a man flew from Munich to Sweden without a ticket, and a woman flew from New York to Paris. The latter had to appear in court in the US this week.

Adapted from German by DeepL/mga

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