Special Report: Flight risk

Traveler
"It's so much more efficient."

Traveler
"I think they're a great thing to use. They're a lot easier."

But 7News found travelers on one airline may be trading convenience for their own safety.

Watch as we take our hidden camera into Logan Airport. On three different days, a 7News producer swipes different credit cards at the unmanned United Airlines kiosk. She doesn't have any flights booked, but with each swipe a name similar to the one on the credit card pops up.

Not only do we get the passengers' names and their flight numbers, but with one touch, we are instantly given the option of printing out a boarding pass.

Traveler
"Wow. That's a little unsettling."

Traveler
"That's dangerous."

7News didn't print out any boarding passes, but someone else easily could have. And that boarding pass could get them past airport security.

Robert Siciliano, safetravelsecurity.com
"Generally, what's required to get through is just to have a boarding pass, a form of id, that can be a driver's license, a state issued ID, or a passport, all of which in some shape or form can be counterfeited."

And that's not the only danger here. In two cases the flights we pulled up had already departed. But we were still able to get the passengers' names and flight confirmation numbers.

With this personal info at our fingertips, we logged on to the airline's website and easily pulled up the passengers' itineraries, frequent flier numbers, addresses and even the last four digits of one passenger's credit card.

Robert Siciliano, safetravelsecurity.com
"That data can be used to get even more info about that person. Someone who is creative enough can go online, can use the telephone and extract more info about that person, potentially compromising their identity."

7News contacted the passengers whose info we were so easily able to obtain. Donna and Larry, a couple from Idaho, were shocked and angered at how easily we could track them down. They didn't want to go on camera but told us they think United Airlines owes their passengers secure levels of privacy and security of their information.

And 7News found this problem isn't only at Logan Airport. We swiped credit cards at United kiosks in two Florida airports and easily gained access to passengers' personal info there.

We told United Airlines what we'd uncovered and the company responded saying, "...we have not seen any intentional mis-use of these popular machines." The company also stressed that safety is "...our number one priority..." and that there are "...several security layers that would respond to any attempted mis-use."

As for the potential security threat, airport safety officials say the individual airlines are solely responsible for ticketing their passengers. But officials say they do have procedures in place to prevent people from getting on planes when they shouldn't.

George Nacarra, Transportation Security Administration
"We have trained all of our TSOs, our transportation security officers, in the art of looking for fraudulent documents."

Still, they admit that doesn't mean someone wouldn't be able to slip through undetected.

George Nacarra, Transportation Security Administration
"I wouldn't rule out anything. It's always possible."

We tried to do the same thing at check-in kiosks for seven other airlines, but none of them had this problem. So the bottom line is that it's up to travelers to decide if using these kiosks is a flight risk.

(Copyright 2008 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)