Thousands delayed (in Vancouver) after man bypasses security

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/stor...9-6e1d47e9df3c

Thousands delayed after man bypasses security Passenger gets on flight
minus proper screening
June 27, 2005

Thousands of passengers and more than 50 flights were delayed at
Vancouver airport yesterday when a man bypassed security screening and
flew to his destination without being detected.

"Any such incident calls into question safety and security," said
Jacqueline Bannister of the Canadian Air Transportation Security
Authority, which is investigating.

"The guy went through pre-board screening at Vancouver without getting
properly screened and he got on his plane and the plane left Vancouver
with him on it and he arrived in Toronto. Nobody knew that he was
actually on the flight [to] Toronto."

Bannister was unable to explain the double-security breach: the man
getting past pre-board screening and then getting on the flight that
was able to take off even though he hadn't been screened.

The unidentified man, five-foot-10, balding and carrying a black
backpack, breached the security screening point at the entrance to C
Pier, a domestic departure wing with 11 gates, at 9:43 a.m.

About 3,000 people in the departure areas, and passengers already on
board up to six flights, were ordered back into the terminal to be
screened again.

Several travellers said the order to leave the gates and planes didn't
come until about 10:30 a.m.

The queues to get back through security were immense, snaking through
the domestic and international terminals.

A total of 53 flights, mostly Air Canada and WestJet, were delayed,
some forced off-schedule by as much as 90 minutes. Hundreds of
passengers were caught in lines until mid-afternoon.

Airport security and RCMP with dogs searched C Pier for the passenger
who prompted the evacuation, but didn't find him.

He was eventually identified during rescreening in Toronto.

"We basically were waiting [for him in Toronto]," Bannister said.

It does not appear the man had any criminal intent but there will be a
"full post-mortem" on how he was able to bypass security and get on a
plane, Bannister said.

"It appears it may have been a misunderstanding on the person's part,"
she said. "The passenger was late for his flight, didn't really
understand, misunderstood where he was supposed to go. Obviously the
person did not realize he had done something wrong."

Lines snaked throughout the airport as stranded travellers waited in
line for hours to clear security.

Frustrated traveller Christine Palmer, returning to Toronto, said:
"We've been here for two hours, and we're halfway there.

"They have been coming through the line, pulling people out for
flights. They promised us we'd get on our flight."

As she waited in line at 12:20 for a flight scheduled to leave at 1
p.m., the departures screen pointed out the sad truth: The next 30
departures were all listed as delayed.

With hundreds of people in front of him and just half an hour before
his 1:15 p.m. flight to Dusseldorf, Germany, an anxious Markus
Heinrichs said: "They haven't told us anything. We've been in line for
an hour."

Despite the chaos, airport spokesman Ralph Eastman said the airport is
pleased with how the situation was managed in the terminal.

"Everything went according to plan," he said. "We don't take chances
on anything."

But Michelle Dujmovic, who was at the airport to see her parents off,
was alarmed by what she called "lax" security.

"There's a complacent attitude," she said. "They don't take security
seriously."

Fly Guy wrote:

Despite the chaos, airport spokesman Ralph Eastman said the airport is
pleased with how the situation was managed in the terminal.

"Everything went according to plan," he said. "We don't take chances
on anything."

"According to plan".. LOL... The guy was able to take off on a flight.