Jakarta Globe, Straits
Times Indonesia | February 06, 2011
Ticket
touts are making use of security loopholes at Indonesia's airports to sell
tickets on domestic flights at inflated prices, as they prey on travellers
desperate for a ticket during busy periods.
 |
Lax security at Indonesian airports allow domestic travelers
to fly using tickets under other people's names purchased
from scalpers. (SP Photo) |
While the
Indonesian government is boosting security in airline travel with new biometric
passports and electronic identity cards, one major gap remains.
Travelers —
whether local or foreign — who fly within Indonesia are required to produce
formal identification before they board their flights, but this rule is often
not closely enforced.
This has
allowed ticket cartels to spring up at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport — where
44 million domestic passengers passed through last year — hawking domestic air
tickets registered under random names.
Analysts
say the security loophole could allow all sorts of criminals, including terror
suspects on the run, to move around the country.
The Sunday
Times spoke to four ticket touts at the airport's domestic terminal who
explained the process, though they did not want to be named.
It starts
with travel agents making advance block bookings of seats on various airlines in
busy travel periods, such as long weekends or festive holidays. The
reservations are made under fake names — something that cannot be done with
international flights, as this requires passport numbers to be given.
Armed with
the tickets, touts then linger near the ticket counters on the day of the
flight, looking out for passengers who are turned away because flights are full
or the tickets cost too much to buy on the spot.
"Agents
know that domestic flights during holidays can go for as much as Rp 5 million
($555) one way," said a licensed tour agent based in central Jakarta.
"So they'll block seats early, buy them for as little as Rp 200,000, and
sell them off for Rp 1 million."
Sometimes,
he said, the touts even work in cahoots with airline ticketing staff, who sell
off the tickets of passengers who do not arrive early enough to check in.
Check-in counters on domestic flights usually close 20 minutes before take-off.
All this is
possible because security checks on domestic flights are lax, he added, and
security staff rarely hassle the touts — or are allegedly bribed to turn a
blind eye.
It was
common, said the travel agent, for licensed travel agents to check in their
clients without having to produce any form of identification. "The
airlines don't care who flies as the ticket is already paid for," he
claimed.
Travelers'
identities are checked more thoroughly on international flights, but even so,
rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan recently managed to visit a few Asian
countries on a fake passport while supposedly in police custody.
Transport
Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan admitted that the lax identification checks
were an "administrative problem," but maintained that the authorities
took safety seriously and passengers were screened thoroughly before they
boarded their flights.
Indonesia
has in recent years tightened security as part of efforts to clamp down on
terrorism. Last month, the government launched its first biometric passports,
which it hopes will help prevent the use of forged ones.
It has also
started a registration process to give Indonesians a single identity number —
making for better tracking — starting with Jakarta residents, though this will
take a while to cover the whole country.
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