I don’t fly internationally and don’t have a passport. Are passports checked for anything? I know you need a picture. Would being stolen not be flagged at some point?
Yes, passports are run through multiple databases when checking in at the airport. Agents around the world follow a similar protocol. Not sure if there is an international standard or if each nation sets their rules.
It is just not believable that stolen passports were not caught. The passports themselves can be flagged in computer systems of course, there are computer chips in pports too that can be read not only at check-in but in other areas of the airports [security for example.]
How did the stolen pports defeat these measures AND the measures we don’t know about?
Is this strangeness related to the disappearance?
Sounds to me like an episode of Burn Notice.