Slipping through
Black market in air tickets
Aflourishing black market for airline tickets means airlines and passengers have no idea who is on board.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said knowing who was on a flight was vital, and particularly important in the event of an incident.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration says on its website that in the event of an incident or accident, incorrect names meant the wrong families would be notified.
But local airlines are not checking passenger identities on domestic flights, perpetuating a practice of consumers on-selling their boarding passes over social media.
The black market for tickets has been spurred by a ‘‘don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy which airport authorities and airlines have cultivated when it comes to boarding on domestic flights.
A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokeswoman said that ‘‘at present, identity checking of passengers for domestic flights is not a regulatory requirement’’.
The focus of CAA screening was ‘‘around preventing prohibited goods on flights rather than people flying using others’ tickets,’’ she said.
Yet the CAA requires all airlines to know who is on board a flight.
Aviation expert Irene King said the rampant practice of people buying second-hand domestic flight tickets without changing the name is something that has been ‘‘raised repeatedly’’ by airlines and airports.
‘‘Basically it’s a domestic practice only found in New Zealand.’’
The extent of the practice was ‘‘extraordinarily hard’’ to quantify, but it was common enough to have been on airlines’ radars for years.
King said airlines have repeatedly looked at the cost and the benefit of checking people’s IDs, but because of the lowsecurity threat and the cost, airlines have resorted to ‘‘other lines of defence’’ against security threats.
Checking in without bags, using an e-kiosk, or online checkins were all ways people could get around showing identification at domestic terminals.
King said the ‘‘black market’’ was not bad for an airline’s business, because airlines ‘‘still sold the ticket and they’ve got the money in their hand’’.
But just how risky is buying a ticket that’s not in your name?
Airlines can deny boarding to anyone with a ticket that is not in their name , and in some cases they have refused to ever carry the person again.
Air New Zealand ‘‘regularly monitors websites to identify customers attempting to on-sell air tickets’’, including those sold on Facebook, a spokeswoman said.
Selling a flight without changing the name, which costs between $30 and $50, also breached the company’s terms and conditions.
King said Air New Zealand’s ‘‘constant monitoring’’ of social media was ‘‘not that sophisticated’’ and ‘‘pretty labour-intensive’’.
‘‘I’m not saying they always identify who these people are, but they do write to people and tell them it’s illegal and unlawful to do this.’’
Many posts on social media for domestic tickets specify the name on the ticket is a ‘‘female name’’, ‘‘male name’’ or that the flights are being ‘‘sold on behalf’’ of someone else.
In 2014, a Victoria University student shared an Air New Zealand letter online after she had posted her flights on popular Wellington buy-and-sell group, Vic Deals.
The letter said her access to web and kiosk check-in had been revoked and she might be asked for photo ID at a check-in counter for all future bookings.
Vic Deals general manager Andrew Rosen said flights were a ‘‘banned item’’ on the page.
But there have been thousands of posts on the page selling flights over the years.
‘‘If we get rid of them they’ll just go to another page,’’ he said.
He has contacted Air New Zealand ‘‘upwards of 15 times’’ to address the resale of flights, but has never heard back from the airline.
A Jetstar spokesman said the company did not monitor websites for on-selling, but flying under another name was a breach of company rules.