Ben Gurion Airport tightens security after teen boards flight without ticket

New procedures will require passengers to show boarding passes at additional checkpoints.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

New security procedures are being implemented at Ben Gurion Airport following an incident Tuesday in which a teenager managed to board an international flight without a ticket, the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) announced Wednesday.

Under the changes, passengers departing Israel will be required to present their boarding passes at additional checkpoints throughout the departure process.

Travelers should take this into consideration when calculating their arrival time at the airport ahead of their flight, as there will be new places where lines may form and wait times could increase, at least in the initial phase of the new policy, according to the IAA.

To streamline the process and “ensure consistent and orderly operations,” the authority said it will add personnel and technological systems at key transition points.

The new measures will be rolled out gradually and in a “controlled manner” over the course of 2026, the IAA added.

The policy change follows two recent security breaches at Israel’s main international airport.

Israeli officials were stunned after an 18-year-old Israeli boarded an Austrian Airlines flight on Tuesday and landed in Vienna despite not having a boarding pass.

The IAA said an immediate review was conducted with the “responsible bodies” – the Population and Immigration Authority and the airline.

The subsequent inquiry found that the passenger “underwent security screening but did not complete the border control process.”

Austrian Airlines declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, saying only that “an internal investigation is underway” and that the aircraft “underwent a comprehensive safety inspection after the flight.”

The young man was later returned to Israel.

In a separate incident in October, a 13-year-old boy managed to board an El Al flight to the United States without a passport or boarding pass.

Cabin crew identified him when he was already seated before takeoff.

They questioned him and found out that the boy’s parents are divorced and he was trying to get to his father, who lives in the US.

The crew had him safely removed from the aircraft.

An investigation was also launched in that case to determine how the minor passed through security and border control without the required documentation.

At a minimum, both incidents should have been caught at the gate, where passengers must present both a passport and boarding pass, and the pass is scanned in a machine connected to the approved passenger list.