A Vistara passenger breezed through the security checkpoint at Terminal-3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, even though he unwittingly carried a boarding pass of a different date from a different airport, exposing potential security flaws within the airport and airline systems, possibly also in DigiYatra.
On August 30, Narendra Bisht, photo director at Fortune India, entered the airport using the DigiYatra app to check in for his Delhi-Mumbai flight (UK 963).
At the check-in counter, Bisht handed over his smartphone with the DigiYatra QR code to a Vistara staff member, who despite looking visibly tired from an all-night shift, was polite and efficient. She generated his boarding pass, noting that his luggage was under 7 kg and suggested he could carry it onboard. But with his camera bag already in tow, Bisht opted to check in his luggage. Vistara staff handed over the boarding pass to Bisht along with a baggage tag for the flight.
Bisht then headed off to the security checkpoint. When Bisht was being frisked at the security check, an officer asked him to remove his wrist splint from a recent sports injury. The metal strip in the splint set off an alert, but after explaining, the officer allowed him to pass but informed him he was carrying the wrong boarding pass. Bisht discovered that the boarding pass he was carrying was that of his return flight from Mumbai to Delhi (see pic above).
Bisht was holding a boarding pass for his return flight (UK 944) scheduled for the next day, August 31, at 2:40 PM, from Mumbai to Delhi, instead of the one he was boarding (UK 963) to Mumbai.
It is possible Bisht mistakenly gave the Vistara staff the QR code of his return flight, and she issued the wrong pass. But how was he able to get a physical boarding pass for a flight scheduled for the next day and from a completely different city and sail through the security gates with the wrong boarding pass?
Thankfully, the security officer’s sharp eye caught the mistake. With the wrong pass in hand, Bisht proceeded further but knew he needed to sort it out. He approached the Vistara staff, who connected him with Mr. Negi. He made sure his luggage would be sent to the flight to Mumbai. The boarding pass stayed the same.
But the real question here is: Who’s at fault? Was it an error at the Vistara check-in counter, a glitch within Delhi airport systems or DigiYatra, or is this a bigger security issue, considering that Bisht managed to get through security all the way to his flight with the wrong pass!
“I can’t remember exactly, but what if I entered the airport by scanning my return flight’s QR code? Delhi Airport, Vistara and DigiYatra need to review these issues,” says Bisht.