A 38-year-old Tampa woman’s attempt to use someone else’s identity to board a flight at Tampa International Airport was thwarted by the Transportation Security Administration’s facial recognition technology on Thursday.
Brittany Lynn Anderson inserted a driver’s license into the credential authentication machine at Airside A, but the device quickly flagged a mismatch between her face and the ID. A manual inspection by a transportation security officer revealed that Anderson was trying to use a Spirit Airlines boarding pass and ID that belonged to someone else.
According to an arrest report, Anderson claimed she was “going through some rough times” and that’s why she looked different on the ID. She allegedly admitted to the officer that her own ID was expired and that she had asked a friend to purchase a ticket under someone else’s name so she could travel to Las Vegas.
However, the boarding pass and ID card she was using belonged to a person who is currently incarcerated. When the officer asked for her identification, Anderson handed over her expired ID, which revealed an active warrant out of Pennsylvania for “financial responsibilities” after a check with the National Crime Information Center.
Anderson was subsequently arrested and charged with criminal use of personal identification information. The TSA’s credential authentication technology, which uses cameras and a tablet to match a traveler’s face with their ID, played a crucial role in detecting Anderson’s attempted deception. The system also verifies that a passenger has a valid ticket to fly out of the airport, and does not store any photos after they are taken.
