Hacker Holds Key To Free Flights 144
mask.of.sanity writes: "A security researcher says he has developed a method to score free flights across Europe by generating fake boarding passes designed for Apple's Passbook app. The 18-year-old computer science undergrad didn't reveal the 'bypass' which gets the holder of the fraudulent ticket past the last scanner and onto the jetway; he's saving that for his talk at Hack in the Box in Amsterdam next month."
Re:Okay, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
"Oh, I'm sorry - I must have grabbed the wrong row."
"Oh, I'm sorry - they said my seat assignment was provisional because I arrived so late, I'll find another one"
Board near the end of the boarding time and take a free center seat near the back -unless then plane is 100% full, you're golden.
Re:Okay, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
Not in my last 6 flights they haven't, at least not without trying to be incredibly covert about it which I seriously doubt. All these flights were within Europe or SE Asia, I don't know if head counts are more common in other regions.
Within the US they definitely count the passengers. I flew between Canada and Asia last year and I don't remember if they counted or not, but on flights within the USA they definitely do count. There was a rather embarrassing incident where a minor without a ticket of any kind got on a plane in the US and nobody ever did anything to make sure he was in the right place or even had a ticket for the flight. I think now all the airlines want to make sure that kind of thing never happens again, because if a kid can do it, an adult with bad intentions may be able to do ti too.
Re:Okay, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
They count the number of passengers who got on.
The number of passengers with tickets is usually higher.
They don't compare the count to the number of tickets. They compare it to the number of people known to be getting on the flight, presumably these days from the number who've been scanned through security (in my airside days it was the number that had checked in at the desk, since this was before online check-in).
.. Which this device claims to be able to get through (the jetway is after the last ticket check). So the numbers may actually match up...