Pax. without boarding passes

[Typhoon1244]

I would have thought that, since September 11th, everyone would be really hot about requiring all passengers to have some sort of paper boarding pass in their hand before they board an airliner. On a couple of occasions now, I've had the gate send late passengers to us with no boarding passes. The gate literally just tells these folks to "go on down and find an empty seat."

As far as I can recall, I haven't received any guidance on this issue from my company. I guess the responsibility lies with the gate agent and the flight attendant, not the pilots. (But, of course, the airplane and everything in it are still my responsibility.)

Anyone have any knowledge or thoughts about this issue?

 

[justApilot]

Simple...Don't allow the gate agent to close the cabin door until you feel that all of your questions about ticketless passengers and security have been answered.