Earlier this week, a teenage stowaway was found on an EL AL flight that was preparing to depart from Israel for the United States of America. Local media reports suggest that the 13-year-old managed to evade Tel Aviv Airport’s infamous security procedures before sneaking onto the flight to New York.
Ultimately, the young stowaway was located by members of the flight’s cabin crew before it departed on its long westbound journey, preventing the aircraft from arriving at JFK with one more occupant than planned. Still, the incident highlights the potential vulnerabilities in an airport security system that is known the world over for being amongst the strictest and most effective in the entire modern airline industry.
Caught Before Departure
New York JFK Airport is a key international destination for El Al from its main hub at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International, with data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, showing that it currently operates three flights a day on this route. These primarily use the Boeing 787, although some 777s do also feature from time to time. Passengers can expect a gate-to-gate journey time of approximately 12 hours.
According to Air Guide, one of these services was the subject of an alarming incident on Tuesday night, when a 13-year-old boy managed to evade security and passport control and board the aircraft. However, he was discovered before takeoff sitting in a seat designated for crew, with El Al explaining:
“The flight crew saw a boy who boarded the plane without a ticket or passport after passing all security and border control stages at Ben Gurion. The boy was safely removed from the plane.”
Diving Deeper Into The Details
While stowaway incidents are not exactly unheard of in the modern age, and some airports are even having to implement special measures due to such occurrences being on the rise, this particular story raises eyebrows due to the fact that Tel Aviv Airport has very strict security. Still, Y Net Global reports that the boy bypassed all security and border procedures, despite US-bound flights having additional vetting.
The incident is being called a ‘multi-agency failure’ by Israeli officials, who, according to El Al’s aforementioned statement, have now launched an investigation into the matter. Air Guide notes that the boy was able to blend in by staying close to adults at every stage as he passed through the checkpoints.
|
El Al’s Daily Tel Aviv – New York Flights (Per Cirium) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Flight Number |
Departure |
Arrival |
|
LY3 |
00:05 |
04:55 |
|
LY1 |
01:00 |
05:50 |
|
LY7 |
10:15 |
15:05 |
Having made it airside, the teenage stowaway is even said to have spent time in the duty-free area before somehow getting onto the US-bound aircraft, where his movement between empty seats raised concern in time for him to be spotted and removed before takeoff. He has since been returned to his mother following the alarming incident, against the challenging backdrop of a dispute between his parents.
Tel Aviv’s Security Protocols Are Notoriously Strict
As previously noted, Ben Gurion Airport in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is infamous the world over for having some of the industry’s strictest security protocols. Though controversial in some respects, they have clearly proven to be effective, as the facility has seen no terror-related casualties in 45 years. According to Air Guide, these security procedures begin at the check-in desk when passengers drop their bags off.
Here, passengers are asked initial questions before going to the security checkpoint to have their documents checked and bags scanned. Documents are also checked at passport control, where biometrics are used to confirm a passenger’s identity, and they also have to be shown (along with the ticket) when boarding the plane. Despite the success of the airport’s security systems, they have come under fire.
This has been due to the way that human factors are used, with CNN reporting that critics have accused Israel of racial profiling when it comes to selecting passengers for further examination. Specifically, Arabs and Palestinians are more likely to be stopped, but authorities describe this as a risk-based approach rather than profiling. In any case, the stowaway incident highlights the system’s vulnerabilities.
