Witness says the alleged terrorist got on plane with NO passport

[rainbow4321]

The rest of the article said that the ticket agent referred him to "her manager down the hall". Obviously, as we know now, he was able to board.

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html

A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.

Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.

Kurt Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.
(snip)

While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, 'He's from Sudan and we do this all the time.'”

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. unlikely that he got on without passport

unless he wa a patsie

[HipChick]

2. Highly unlikely at Schiphol...they wouldn't let me board because my ticket

had an abbreviated name of my full name on my passport..

[rainbow4321]

3. I think they need to at least talk to the ticket agent as well as the manager

just to verify/clear up the witnesses account. Should be easy enough for the feds to do so, did he or did he not have a passport on him when he was arrested. And who was the "well dressed" guy that supposedly accompanied him to the manager's office? Airport video should be able to clear that up also if they got them on tape.

[HipChick]

5. R/W sites..including the Drudge Report are carrying this story

whipping all kinds of conspiracy frenzy...

[msongs]

4. dKos also says he got his visa during the bush years nt

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[global1]

10. And They Couldn't Do That Right Either......nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. I don't buy it

The only instance I'm at all aware of where someone might be allowed to board without presenting both a ticket and a passport is for international airside transit where they haven't left the international terminal and gone through passport control. And even then it's pretty unlikely. I've never been on an international flight where I didn't have to present my passport and boarding pass both at the security checkpoint into the terminal and again at the departure gate.

[Sultana]

7. BULLSHIT!!!

[HipChick]

9. Bollocks

If an airline lets a passenger board w/o a passport, or any other required immigration document, and they are refused admission to the US (or other landing country) then the airline is required to haul the pax back to the point of origin at the airline's expense.Which is why this story smells like BS!...

[HipChick]

11. He was banned from the UK due to visa issues,not terrorist activities

[ladjf]

12. If this story is true, the security cameras should be able to facilitate the identity of the "friend