Transforming J.D. Vance’s face has been a meme for several months, and someone took ‘bald, bearded infant J.D. Vance’ and created an app to do that to your boarding pass. The creator says he used it at New York JFK and “TSA…seemed slightly entertained.”

i made this handy app to turn your boring airline wallet check in passes into big beautiful bald JD vances https://t.co/GTWEmwe1Mx

— James Steinberg (@DareFailed) June 30, 2025

He says he drew inspiration from the Norwegian tourist who was detained at Newark and then deported after being required to unlock his phone, where border officials found an altered image of Vance (officially, the reason he was denied entry was admitted use of marijuana which is legal in his home country).

I was interested in this because TSA has gotten big mad at boarding pass generators in the past. Most famously, sometimes reader of this blog Christopher Soghoian created a boarding pass generator in 2006 and the TSA threatened him with criminal penalties for it. So I went back to the threats and the relevant regulations to see the risks.

• 49 C.F.R. § 1540.103(c) “No person may make… Any reproduction or alteration, for fraudulent purpose, of any … access medium or identification medium issued under this subchapter.”  A boarding pass (paper or electronic) is an “access medium.” This carries a civil penalty up to $17,062 per violation under 49 U.S.C. § 46301(a)(5)(A) (TSA’s standard penalty schedule).

• 49 C.F.R. § 1540.105(a)(1) & (3) Prohibits tampering with or using an access/ID medium “in any manner other than that for which it was issued.”

• 49 U.S.C. § 46314 Criminalizes knowingly entering the sterile area or aircraft “in violation of security requirements”—what an altered or forged pass is often intended to do. Carries up to 1 year imprisonment (§ 46314(b)(1)) or 10 years (§ 46314(b)(2)) if done “with intent to evade security procedures.”

• 49 U.S.C. § 46316 is a catch‑all misdemeanor for violating any TSA/FAA security regulation.

• 18 U.S.C. § 1028 & § 1001 Forging or using a false identification document, or making a materially false statement to a federal official fall under ordinary fraud statutes.

The FBI cited these in pursuing Soghoian. How would they apply here?

Apple and Google Wallet boarding passes are .pkpass files that contain (1) the visual artwork and (2) the cryptographically signed barcode payload that the airline/TSA actually validates. What the app appears to do is swap out only the artwork layer so that the pass looks like a JD Vance meme while leaving the signed barcode untouched.

§ 1540.103(c) requires “fraudulent purpose” and juxtaposing the barcode with Vance carries no intent to fool TSA. However, could it violate violate § 1540.105(a)(1)/(3) for “tampering with” and “using” the access medium in a way it was never issued to be used? Intent is irrelevant here, but I still don’t think so because the access medium is likely the boarding code, and not the graphic. TSA’s privacy impact assessment says the goal is to verify that “identity credentials and boarding passes … have not been tampered with.” No one is breaking the cryptographic signature.

In practice, there are apparently fewer than 10 civil cases per year against passengers who try to fly on doctored boarding passes and these aren’t meme art overlays. It’s possible you could be threatened but if you’re willing to lawyer up (which could be more expensive than the fine) you’d be in a strong position I think.

Interestingly, an airline itself could issue the Vance boarding pass and that’s clearly permissible – 49 C.F.R. § 1540.103 targets unauthorized alteration and the airline is the authorized issuer. There’s no tampering. In fact, Apple’s PassKit guide explicitly encourages carriers to brand the pass with any foreground/background images they like.

But what about other unintended uses of boarding passes, like actually faking boarding pass credentials to get into lounges?

• You might want to visit an airline lounge you aren’t eligible for, like a first class lounge
  
• Or visit a departure-only lounge when you land, for a meal or a shower or just to kill time, or enter that lounge when it’s more than 3 hours to your flight with a lounge that time-limits entry.

Here you’re not going through security with the ticket – you’re already inside the sterile area (unless you’re changing terminals, and the terminals aren’t connected airside). A boarding‑pass scan at the lounge entrance is not a TSA‑controlled access point so there’s no violation. These regulation only cover access to secured/SIDA/sterile areas, not commercial spaces inside them. There’s no TSA sanction for ‘lounge misuse.’ Of course an airline or lounge operator could ban you!

What about buying a refundable ticket solely to meet someone at the arriving gate? You clear the checkpoint with a legitimate, unaltered boarding pass and comply with all screening. No TSA rule says you must intend to board, although one could theoretically argue you’re using the boarding pass in a manner other than that which is intended (§ 1540.105(a)(3)).

• While the airline might ban you
  
• I’m not aware of any case the TSA has pursued against someone clearing security with a legitimate boarding pass

The TSA itself endorses “gate passes” for non‑travelers with strict passenger limits. A ticket involves potentially different screening since gate passes won’t confer PreCheck for a passenger who is otherwise-eligible. Do it enough and you might get your Known Traveler Number suspended.

(HT: Paul H.)