American Airlines Passenger Told He's Already on the Plane During Check-In As Stranger Was Given His Boarding Pass

A Chicago man was angered and shocked to learn that another person used his boarding pass to fly home.

Brad Gertz was trying to board an America Airlines flight out of Philadelphia to go home, but when he tried to check in for his flight, he was told that he already left. Someone else had been given his boarding pass and took an earlier flight, ABC reports.

"He told me about three times, 'you're already on a flight, your flight already left,' so now I'm worried. [I was thinking,] 'Is this identity theft?'" Gertz said. Gertz' identify wasn't stolen, but his boarding pass was.

The airline later figured out that Gertz's boarding pass was given to another passenger with a different name.

Now questions about security are being raised as I became apparent that a man was able to make it through security with a boarding pass that didn't match the name on his identification.

"To not look at a name on a ticket and on a license, and let that person through - I mean, you might as well not let them go through the scanners either," Gertz said.

The airline says the mistake was realized at the gate and that passenger, who used a credit card to check in, received the correct boarding pass.

"The fact that American took a credit card, didn't ID them, still ran it under my identity, gave them my boarding pass, TSA let them through... they are both held mutually responsible," Gertz said.

American released a statement about the incident to CBS, saying "A boarding pass with Mr. Gertz's name on it was inadvertently given to another passenger yesterday when they arrived at PHL to check in for their flight. One of our employees realized the error after it happened and gave the other passenger the correct boarding pass. Because of this mistake, it appeared that Mr. Gertz was already checked in for and set to take an earlier flight. Mr. Gertz's itinerary was not updated to reflect the mistake until he arrived at the airport later that morning to check in for his originally scheduled flight. We have spoken to Mr. Gertz to apologize for the confusion and offer him a travel voucher as a gesture of goodwill."

The incident included a whole lot of human error at Philadelphia International Airport. "I would hope they are doing their side, checking things off and making sure that everything is correct," said passenger Douglas Sanders of Exton, Pa.

Gertz was eventually able to make it home to Chicago. American Airlines apologized to him and gave him a $300 voucher, but Gertz is very concerned about the incident.

"Because if one person can get in under someone else's name, what's saying that's not happening to a bunch of other people," Gertz said.

The TSA released a statement about the issue to Action News saying, "TSA is reviewing allegations that document verification procedures were not followed properly at Philadelphia International Airport. Passengers are subject to a robust security system that employs multiple layers, including watch list matching, thorough screening at the checkpoint, Federal Air Marshals, armed pilots and a vigilant public, as well as many others, both seen and unseen."