Many really small regional airports allow you to board without going through metal detectors/bag x-rays. Once you get off the plane at the destination(larger airport) you're behind the "secure" zone, and can also board another flight without going through one.
In 1996, NBC's Dateline ran a story on the lack of security at major airports (Boston and Newark). During yesterday's news coverage, they referred back to this story and mentioned that procedures have not changed much since then. According to that Dateline article: - A Dateline staffer was hired to drive a cart around the airport, and was "promoted" to X-ray monitor after two days. They never performed a background check, nor did they contact any of his references. - Their people were able to walk through secure areas, onto the tarmac, into baggage compartments, into wheel wells, and into passenger compartments without incident. Their person was not wearing any airport badge. He walked past numerout airline employees and was never stopped or questioned. They were successfully able to plant a package under a seat, and retrieve it at the plane's destination. NBC's article from yesterday (which cites the 1996 Dateline article) is http://www.msnbc.com/news/627379.asp No amount of questioning people at the ticket counter will do any good when the hiring system can let people with no references and no background check have unrestricted access to the airplanes. With security holes like these, the hijackers don't even need tickets. -- David