Missed boarding pass raises new concerns. No head count, no baggage matching: teen travels and checks bag, but Continental doesn't notice. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=8295529 Continental had no record of the passenger having flown, so cancelled his return leg. International flight protocols of matching bags to passengers are not followed for domestic runs. But the boarding pass was missed too. But then again the flight did originate in Newark.
Welcome to 2011, Senator. We haven't had positive bag matching for domestic flights for years. We don't really have it for international flights either, given that the airline can always choose to separate your bag from you. Go cut some spending & don't muck with commercial aviation.