The Mumbai Airport has a really stupid security policy.
Why this is stupid :
The CSIA website is another piece of turd. Weird javascript and generally borked.
- If you're at the airport to see someone off, you have to do it from the road/pavement.
- One can enter the airport lounges only on producing a ticket for flying that day.
- The ticket holder cannot come out of the lounge after collecting the boarding pass.
- There is nothing which announces this. You get to know it only when the ticketholder is inside and you're not.
Why this is stupid :
- There is no security involved in the check-in process, or at entry into the lounge. A person does not cross a trust boundary in any of these procedures. A checked-in passenger is as untrusted as a non checked-in person. Yet, non checked-in persons can come out and checked-in ones cannot.
- There's nothing special about boarding passes. I hope their reasons are better than "someone with a fake boarding pass can enter the lounge". It's easier to print a fake ticket. E-tickets are just printouts and you can make your own. Or you can just buy a valid ticket with that nice bomb. Maybe there's a free-ticket-with-a-bomb offer as well.
- It gives a false sense of security. When only "valid" passengers are allowed inside, securitymen lower their guards. So do the people. There's this sense that the are is secure and the bad elements are out, which might lead to suspicious behaviour being overlooked or go unreported. The reality of course is that this setup doesn't *make* anything secure. Its worse than having no security at all.
- Of course, the airport loses a small stream of revenue. Visitors have, and will pay money to be longer with the passengers.
The CSIA website is another piece of turd. Weird javascript and generally borked.