The check-in girl saw the ID and said: `Funny name' I replied: `Yes; EXCLUSIVE.

Byline: JAMES MONCUR

A FAKE identity card in the name of a September 11 hijacker was my passport through security at two of Britain's biggest airlines.

I strolled on to Ryanair and easyJet flights by using the name of Hani Hanjour, the fanatic who crashed an airliner into the Pentagon.

On the Ryanair flight, I even made it into the cockpit.

I flew from Glasgow to Luton with easyJet, then from Stansted to Prestwick with Ryanair.

No one challenged me over my false identity.

The closest I came to discovery was when the Ryanair sales clerk at Stansted said: "Hani Hanjour, that's an unusual name."

"It's Dutch," I replied curtly. "My father was from Holland."

The woman blushed, thinking she had said the wrong thing. I was in the clear.

After September 11, air travellers were assured that security would be tightened. I found a very different story.

It was ridiculously easy to get my hands on an International Student Identity Card in the name of Hanjour.

And such cards are happily accepted by Ryanair and easyJet, even though they are issued without a single security check.

My decision to test the validity of the International Student Identity Card (ISIC) was prompted by Ryanair.

I'd been tipped off that they refused to accept police warrant cards or military ID as photographic proof of identity.

The wife of a serving police officer was devastated when they were refused permission to board a Ryanair flight en route to a wedding.

The airline refused to recognise his warrant card as an acceptable form of identity and they never got to the wedding.

But both Ryanair and easyJet accept ISICs

I began my investigation by phoning STA Travel, the London-based agency that issues millions of international student ID cards.

I told them my name was Hani Hanjour and I wanted an ID card, but I would have trouble confirming who I was.

Unfortunately, I had just lost my wallet, complete with my bank card, credit card, and university identity card.

No problem, said STA. All I had to do was get my head of department at uni to write them a letter confirming my story.

If this was what passed for security, it was child's play to get around it.

I logged on to my home computer, downloaded a university's letterhead from its website, and produced my own official-looking notepaper.

Just one call to the university where I pretended Hanjour was studying would have exposed my hoax.

The university, whose letter head I downloaded from the internet for my forged letter, would have insisted they had no Hani Hanjour. And they would also have told the Student Travel Association that they had no head of department called James Moncur.

But instead, a world wide identification system that is used by 30million students in 90 countries has been totally discredited.

It was hard to believe there were no follow up checks to my phone call and made- up letter.

When there had been no inquiries to the house after a few days, I was certain that the Student Travel Association had gone straight to the police.

I braced myself for a visit from Special Branch and wondered how I could ever have imagined that my cover story wouldn't be investigated. My concerns were unfounded. The card arrived by return of post.

The plastic laminate cost me just pounds 6.

With my student ID card safely in my possession, the next stage of the investigation was to put it to the test.

At 9.45 am, I joined the easyJet ticket queue at Glasgow Airport.

Once again, the self doubt and worries came flooding back.

Surely the name Hani Hanjour would set off alarm bells?

At the ticket sales desk, with my heart pounding, I asked for a seat on the next flight to Luton.

The clerk asked for photo ID and I tried to stay cool as I rummaged in my pockets and produced the student card.

She glanced at the card. I was certain I'd be caught, there seemed to be police and security guards everywhere.

I was asked to confirm the spelling of my bogus name and I rattled it out. I'd practised a million times.

But as my details were typed into the system, I could feel the sweat on my hands. My face felt bright red.

Although he was dead, I was sure the name Hani Hanjour would still be on a special terrorist database and would alert security.

Amazingly, nothing happened and I handed over pounds 65 for my flight.

No questions, no problems, no drama - at least not on their part.

Twice more, at the check-in desk and as I boarded the plane, I had to produce my ID card.

Nobody gave it a second glance and minutes later I was on flight EZ82 seated four rows back from the cockpit.

I made the 40 minute journey from Luton to Stansted by taxi, ready to test security at another airline.

And with confidence rising, I went straight to the Ryanair sale desk. The ticket clerk asked me to produce either my passport or driving license as proof of my identity.

I told her I didn't normally carry my passport for internal flights and that I didn't drive.

But I quickly produced the student IDcard and using a line out of a famous TV ad. she replied: "That'll do nicely, sir."

I caught my breath when she commented that Hani Hanjour was an unusual name but I didn't rise to the bait and kept silent.

Embarrassed, she gave me my travel documents without even eye contact.

Three hours, later at the head of a long check-in queue, my ISIC was shown once more. But I only had hand-baggage and there wasn't even a second glance.

Minutes after we touched down at Prestwick Airport, I had one last security test.

Foolhardy with success, I decided on impulse to check security of the flight deck itself.

And while I posed between the captain and co-pilots' seats a flight attendant provided the photographic evidence of the final coup.

Just weeks before the anniversary of the world's worst terrorist attack, I had shown how easy it was to breach airport security.

Now the airlines must make sure it never happens again.

THE REAL HANI HANJOUR AL-QAEDA terrorist Hani Hanjour was a trained commercial airline pilot.

The Saudi Arabian received flight training at Scottsdale School, Arizona and was at the controls of American Airlines Flight 77 as it spiralled into the Pentagon nearly a year ago.

His five man team ruthlessly killed the pilot and co-pilots before he flew the jet into America's most sensitive military building killing more than 180 people, including all those on board. RYANAIR We will still take cards RYANAIR last night said they would continue to accept International Student Identity Cards, despite the Record's expose.

But they insisted they were still the most security-conscious airline.

A spokeswoman said: "All passengers are required to produce photographic ID on all flights including domestic flights."

She listed valid passports, a driver's licence with photograph and the international student card as the only acceptable forms of identity.

She added: "The reason Ryanair accept the ISIC is so that students are not excluded from travel."

Pressed if our investigation would prompt a change of policy, she insisted: "No. Not at present." EASYJET Our checks are stringent EASYJET accept the same three forms of ID as Ryanair.

But they also accept police and military warrant cards and valid airport security passes.

Last night, a spokeswoman for the company said the sole purpose of requiring photographic ID was to ensure the person who checked in was the same person who boarded the plane.

And she added: "Our security checks are more stringent than what the law requires and they have the full support of the Home Office."

The company, who recently merged with Go, are the main competition to Ryanair in the UK cheap-flights market.

THE RULES

THE big airlines like British Airways and British Midland don't require photographic proof of identity.

Instead, they operate a ticket and boarding pass system where cases are checked in and a bar coded luggage security is attached to your flight ticket.

By cross-checking the passenger manifest with the boarding passes, the airline can tell that both baggage and passenger are on board.

The low cost airlines don't issue tickets or boarding passes. Their passenger and baggage cross check is done photographically.

THE IDs THEY TAKE RYANAIR insist on photographic proof of identity and list four forms that are acceptable - but only three of them are available in the UK.

They include a valid passport, a current driving license which must carry a photograph and an international student identity card.

The fourth form of identity which they will accept is a valid ID card with photo, valid in 14 countries but not the UK.

EasyJet also accept police and military warrant cards and valid airport security passes as acceptable forms of ID.

THE IDs THEY DON'T RYANAIR refuse most forms of identification - even police warrant cards.

Senior detectives were shocked to be turned away from a Ryanair flight after being told their cards were not recognised.

One Dundee-based detective, who missed a a wedding in London because of the ruling, said: "I showed my warrant card but was told it was unacceptable. My wife and I had to turn back."

Ryanair also refuse to accept House of Commons security passes, military warrant cards, airport security passes and disability passes.