BOISE — More details are continuing to come to light about what happened on the hour-long flight in a stolen plane at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
This incident, as rare as it may be, has a lot of airports across the country beefing up security.
Airport officials are also finding out that as a ground service agent, 29-year-old Richard Russell, who handled baggage had the credentials to access the airport operations area.
"It's kind of odd that he got that far and was able to do that," said a man waiting for a ride at the Boise Airport.
"It's a little bizarre for never flying a plane and being able to do some of the moves that he did," said another man at the airport.
Nationwide, airports are taking a look at their security protocols.
At the Boise Airport and airports across the country, every employee who has access to secure areas, like Russell did, go through a badging process that includes an extensive background check.
"The background check is vetted by the FBI and TSA and then reviewed by the airport and then the airline, if they work for an airline, to ensure that individual clears all security threats," said Sean Briggs, Marketing Manager for the Boise Airport.
There are a number of red flags that could get you disqualified from a job with security clearance, including convictions or pending charges for 45 different crimes.
"They are continually looked at so if they were to get arrested for a disqualifying crime we would be notified and be made aware of that," said Briggs.
The type of badge the employee ultimately gets depends on the job they do.
For example, a chef at a restaurant outside the security terminal wouldn't have the same type of access to secure areas that a TSA agent would.
For airport security reasons, Briggs says he can't get into how ground crews check in to their appropriate areas and how security knows those employees are staying in the right place.
"Depending on your roles and responsibilities for your job that's how your access is determined, where you can and can't go," Briggs said.
When it comes to who hires and oversees the ground crews, Briggs says that varies and that isn't the same for every airport.
"Some of them work for the airline itself and some of them are contracted out by third party and that depends on which airline we're talking about," Briggs said. "What might happen here in Boise isn't necessarily what happens in every single airport across the nation."
Briggs says they're continuing to monitor their employees just like they've always done and they don't have any concerns as far as their security protocol. This situation, however, is a good reminder for everyone to remain vigilant and if you see something say something.