fly anonymously?????????

Miguel Cruz wrote:

freeda wrote:

I think most airports now have a look at your ID at the gate.


Usually only on international flights in the US.


They do it for my domestic flights in SNA and SJC. They check at the
gate and not at security.

I know there are others. I also know that at SFO they check at security
and not at the gate.

(buildmorelines) wrote in message . com...
A friend of mine needs to take a airplane somewhere to get out of a
situation. He does not have any warrents or APBs or that the police is
looking for him right now. The problem is that they might in the
future, and he doesn't want them to be able to look his name up and
know where he flew to. This is a domestic flight he needs to take. He
sort of needs to fly anonymously, but if the airline will keep it a
secret then doesn't need to. Will the law enforcement be able to find
out where he flew to and when at a later date? IS this information
kept forever by the airlines? Is this information kept private?


Airline data can be subpoenaed. However, unless your friend is
in REALLY big trouble, it is dubious they would ever do what you
are suggesting. Forget TV cop shows, cops rarely have all day to
work a single case. When they put out a warrant or something similar,
it goes to a group that handles those. They don't try real hard.
They'll go to his house, make some phone calls, maybe a place of
work, that's about it. They gotta want ya bad to do much more.

Furthermore, they aren't gonna really know where to start.
If they look at his credit statements they might find the
airline ticket, but they'll have to know which month in which to
look, which credit card upon which to check, that kinda thing.
Yes, easy to be done, rarely is though. Then once they have
it all they know is to where he flew. They don't know where
he "is". If I fly to say JFK, they wouldn't really
know where to start looking. New York? Jersey? Rhode Island
or Connecticut. Same way with a BWI, you could easily be in
one of several states. If I was in your friends position,
I'd merely go to a less than obvious airport for departure, pay
cash, and go to another less than obvious airport, then take
almost any other form of ground transport to my final destination,
preferably over a state line. Cinncinatti comes to mind. Heck,
fly to Detroit, he could go out of the country quite easily.
Even easier, fly somewhere, go buy a walk up ticket there for
cash. They'll probably NEVER figure that one out.

In article ,
Shawn Hearn wrote:

Yup, but trying to evade the government or a private citizen on a legal
matter is usually considered fraud.

Well, it's certainly illegal to run away to keep from being arrested; but
the original poster wasn't specific about why the unnamed friend wanted to
fly anonymously.

But it's not fraud, anyway; nolo defines fraud as:

Intentionally deceiving another person and causing her to suffer a loss.

(http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/dictio...035785/alpha/F)

Adopting an alias without the intention to cause someone to suffer a loss
isn't fraud. There was a Nevada case where a blackjack player used a
foreign passport, so that the casino would not have a record of how much he
won (Nevada casinos routinely refuse to do business with competent
gamblers). The casino realized the passport was not valid, and tried to
confiscate the player's money (both his winnings and his original stake),
claiming fraud.

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that it was not fraudulent for the player to
provide ID in a name not his own, and ordered the casino to return the money
to him.

(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/script...OpNo25&invol=2)

--
Randy Hudson

To be specific, the person is a minor who wants to run away to live
with someone else. The person is 15 so they dont need to be escourted
or anything and the airplines treat the person as a adult.

(Randy Hudson) wrote in message ...
In article ,
Hilary wrote:

[someone posted:]

A friend of mine needs to take a airplane somewhere to get out of a
situation.

Unless your friend is willing to break the law, it is not possible. Even
domestic flights require photo ID and yes, if required, airlines will
release information to the authorities.

I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that it has generally been legal
to use an alias in the US, as long as there is no intent to defraud anyone.

The airlines are required by law to ask for ID, but are not required to
refuse transport to those who don't comply (though that is a fairly common
policy). Would the presentation of an ID bearing an alias be illegal,
absent any intent to defraud? I don't know, nor, I think, does Hilary,
despite her response quoted above.

A suggestion to the original poster: if they decide to check records, it is
likely they would check the records for departures from the most likely
airports, for the most likely days. Simply flying out of a relatively
unlikely airport might be sufficient. Misspelling the name somewhat on the
ticket, enough to produce a different Soundex code but not enough that the
ID would be rejected, could help a later check of records miss the name.

For the price of two tickets, he can appear to have flown to a different
destination than he really did. Buy a cheap e-ticket in his own name,
matching his ID. Buy a ticket to his real destination in a phony,
unguessable name, leaving about the same time from the same airport. Buy
that second one with cash, in a way that isn't connected with himself or the
first ticket.

The day before travelling, internet check-in for both flights (from
different IP addresses so the two can't be tied together.) Take those
boarding passes to the airport. Use the one that matches the real ID to
pass through security. Then, use the other to get on the flight to his
real destination. Later checks will find his real-name checkin, and
possibly the video of him passing through security. But if he mingles with
the crowd reasonably well, they won't know where he really went to (they
should learn quickly enough that he didn't really board the spurious
flight).

It does depend on who is chasing him. Different resources are available to
local law-enforcement, national law-enforcement, private detectives, or
illegal debt collectors.

Of course, the simplest, time-honored solution is to hitch-hike. A bus or
train might be OK too.

buildmorelines wrote:

To be specific, the person is a minor who wants to run away to live
with someone else. The person is 15 so they dont need to be escourted
or anything and the airplines treat the person as a adult.

This explanation would come under the category of using an assumed name
to avoid detection from law enforcement. That might be illegal. Of
course, since he would be trying to hide from law enforcement, as you
posted originally, that might not be such a big deal to him. Would it
not be better for him to work out the issues with his parents in a legal
manner. He could possibly get a guardian ad litem at no cost. The
Guardian represents his interest in court. Yeah, I know....tooo much TV
watching here.... but there are really Guardians. For instance, here is
a link to a program in Florida.
http://www.guardianadlitem.org/

In article ,
buildmorelines wrote:

To be specific, the person is a minor who wants to run away to live
with someone else. The person is 15 so they dont need to be escourted
or anything and the airplines treat the person as a adult.

The person the minor will be living with is probably asking for trouble. At
the least, custodial interference. And the minor will probably not see
things end up the way s/he wants them, either.

Is there someone that the minor trusts, that others involved respect enough
to allow a negotiated settlement? If this is a teenage girl wanting to live
with her father, her mother probably should let her try it; she'll soon find
out that it's not quite what she was expecting.

--
Randy Hudson