Yeah try that sometime, because a random wandering clueless person which doesn't wear usual bright airport staff clothing wouldn't be visible form a mile for everybody who cares to look, and there are always staff folks driving around with radios. You would stick out a lot.
It doesn't mean that you will never ever succeed (that swiss cheese model mentioned elsewhere), but most probably (at least in western countries and modern airports) you will be caught quickly and go straight to airport jail. Or if you somehow make it then walk into airplane which is actually fully booked, probably same result.
That being said I once had a very stressful situation in the middle of the night in Mombasa, Kenya where I was changing flight to Tanzania, but directions where to go within airport were vague, random staff didn't have a clue and when I arrived at the door to buses the staff/stewardess just told me to wait. I waited and waited till departure time, they didn't care at all about me and my increasingly urgent questions. I raised this with some random airport staff who was just running around, he just yelled at that staff and took me running straight through runways in heavy rain to the correct flight which was about to depart with aircraft door already closed. This was 2011. Impossible in the west, maybe now even there.
Humans are bad at watching out for rare possibilities, particularly when their job is repetitive, even moreso if they’re sleep deprived or simply zoned out for a bit.
I bet if you try this, you’d have a >3% chance of succeeding… and probably >33% with a vest, no hand luggage, and actively talking on the radio.
Dress as law enforcement, and you’ll have a 100% success rate.
saiya-jin|2 years ago
It doesn't mean that you will never ever succeed (that swiss cheese model mentioned elsewhere), but most probably (at least in western countries and modern airports) you will be caught quickly and go straight to airport jail. Or if you somehow make it then walk into airplane which is actually fully booked, probably same result.
That being said I once had a very stressful situation in the middle of the night in Mombasa, Kenya where I was changing flight to Tanzania, but directions where to go within airport were vague, random staff didn't have a clue and when I arrived at the door to buses the staff/stewardess just told me to wait. I waited and waited till departure time, they didn't care at all about me and my increasingly urgent questions. I raised this with some random airport staff who was just running around, he just yelled at that staff and took me running straight through runways in heavy rain to the correct flight which was about to depart with aircraft door already closed. This was 2011. Impossible in the west, maybe now even there.
throwaway4good|2 years ago
dannyw|2 years ago
I bet if you try this, you’d have a >3% chance of succeeding… and probably >33% with a vest, no hand luggage, and actively talking on the radio.
Dress as law enforcement, and you’ll have a 100% success rate.