Increased Security Screenings

[Charliesmom]

It was probably the left-open ticket that was the trigger for the interrogation. Once they had you there, they decided to grill you properly to see if they could trip you up.

 

It is a sad commentary on what life in the US has become.

 

My sympathies to you. The US is "at war" and these are wartime tactics.

 

Just as a matter of curiosity - whom did you vote for for president of the US?

 

Roberta

[ekerr19]

Roberta-

 

I don't mind the advanced security screenings - it is the price we will have to pay for safer skies.

 

I was very surprised to be flagged - I've always had a passport since I was a teen and have traveled quite a bit without incident.

 

What upset me the most was the man seemed to be enjoying himself and never even bothered to explain or offer an apology for the inconvienence. Once the interrogation ended, he merely slapped my passport on the counter and rudely stated "Welcome Home!" in a sarcastic tone.

 

Please don't take this as rudeness, but I would rather not share my presidential vote on this forum, I get flamed enough as it is! :D

[Lovebirds]

It's 'SSSS'. A few things that can flag this: one way tickets, tickets purchased at the last minute, tickets purchased with cash, name on CAPPS list. One way to lessen your chances of getting SSSS is to put your frequent flyer number in your reservation at the time you book your tickets.

 

So when you see SSSS on your boarding pass, you've been the lucky recipient of the TSA grope and feel.

According to an article in our local newspaper last week, in addition to the above listed "profile" reasons, the computer will also randomly flag tickets with SSSS.

[Slinkiecat]

It was probably the left-open ticket that was the trigger for the interrogation. Once they had you there, they decided to grill you properly to see if they could trip you up.

 

It is a sad commentary on what life in the US has become.

 

My sympathies to you. The US is "at war" and these are wartime tactics.

 

Just as a matter of curiosity - whom did you vote for for president of the US?

 

Roberta

Since we were attacked, and finally decided to defend ourselves from terrorists, we are going to have to be more diligent about whom we allow to board our flights. This is what we should have been doing ten years ago or earlier, after the terrorists announced that they were going to try to destroy us and attempted to take down the WTC in 1993. We may as well learn to live with tighter security - Certainly it's better than having suicide bombers on a plane with any of us. The terrorists don't care who is president. They want to wipe us all out.

 

Slinkie

[RaffinOrganGrinders]

On our recent attempted departure from ATL (Atlanta) to BCL (Barcelona, Spain) via Paris (Charles DeGaulle Airport) we ran into another Homeland Security glitch. :confused:

 

Seems we were flagged as bad guys because we deviated from our originally scheduled flight plans. We were going to drive to Ft. Lauderdale and preposition our Recreational Vehicle for the return trip. Then fly to ATL on Delta with a transfer to Air France for the Paris leg of the trip.

 

At the last minute we decided to rent a car and drive to ATL from CHS (Charleston, SC). Much cheaper than trying to change our flight plans with Holland America and Delta.:o

 

Besides flying one way to Europe (questionable people that we are). Well, bells and whistles, we were trying to break the rules. Delta refused to issue boarding passes. Wanted to reissue the Air France tickets at an additional cost, etc. :mad:

 

We blew off Delta after calling our TA and went over to the Air France desk (remember that Delta sold the original tickets via HAL block travel sales) and the French ticket agent looked over at the Delta agents, standing only 15 feet to the left, and said, "of course we can help you." :cool:

 

They promptly honored the Delta sold tickets with boarding passes. Go figure. :rolleyes:

 

P.S. I have attached a copy of the photo of the questionable cruisers.

[dakrewser]

We blew off Delta after calling our TA and went over to the Air France desk (remember that Delta sold the original tickets via HAL block travel sales) and the French ticket agent looked over at the Delta agents, standing only 15 feet to the left, and said, "of course we can help you."

Well, you know those French - they'll let anybody fly on their planes. And they serve better food, too!

 

:rolleyes: -dave

[kryos]

I was absolutely shocked to find out that if a woman is pulled aside for 'inspection' that the 'inspector' will feel around her bra! :eek: :eek: I can't believe that strangers are now allowed to grop anyone that they feel like and call it their job! I just hope I will not be pulled aside. I have a nasty habit of knocking the lights out of anyone that touches me inappropriately. ;) Wouldn't that be fun to deck the security officer. :eek:

I got pulled aside once ... apparently they must code something randomly on your ticket, because he looked at my ticket and pulled me aside ... both inbound trip and outbound.

 

A woman security officer did the "special" screening and explained everything she was gonna do. It was done with dignity and I did not get the feeling I was being abused at all.

 

Frankly, I'd rather be subjected to extra security on occasion. I'd rather have the extra confidence that anyone sharing that airplane with me had been screened and likely would not be carrying any weapons aboard.

 

Like I said ... the screening was done with dignity ... and anytime she had to feel around what could be considered a sensitive area, it was with the back of her hand. I did not feel in any way violated by the experience.

 

Just my two cents.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Chudley]

Wander, thanks, that makes sense. I had used my frequent flyer # but we were just coming from a Mexican cruise, flying out of San Diego and when we got to the airport asked for an earlier flight. All finds of flags, probably!

 

Krazy, They held the plane for my "pat-down"

[MikeInPgh]

As someone with a mild disability, I walk with a leg brace and a cane. Since 9/11 I have set off almost every machine I have gone through. Once you do that, its off to the pat down area. Ususally, the are very polite about it all. There is a chair for me to use while they examine my brace and everything else. The one thing that would be nice is if that hand screening area was a little more private.

 

I know they want it out in the open so no one gets accused of doing anything wrong, but there is a certain amount of discomfotr in being searched like that in view of everyone else.

 

But as I said, usually they are pretty good about it, but every once in a while you get a real butt head. And disabled or not, if they need to pat down my wife, IT WILL BE A FEMALE OFFICER, or there will be a problem. From what I have read, most of the inappropriate pat downs lately have been male TSA employees doing it.

[RevNeal]

On my flight to Vancouver from Dallas in Sept, and then again from Orlando to Dallas, I was flagged for inspection. Chris was not. On my flight last week to Atlanta (where I attended a lecture series) I was flagged for inspection. In June of this year I was flagged. In January of this year I was flagged. In short, every flight I took in 2004 I was asked to step aside for intensive inspection. So long as the screeners are professional and reasonably efficient I don't particularly mind it too much ... but it does get a little annoying that it's always me, never the person with whom I'm traveling. Since it seems to be happening every time I fly, the last couple of times I've packed my carry-on things in such a way that they are easy to unload, examine, and reload. I also don't carry anything on my person that I don't NEED while in transit -- no money, no watch, no phones, no keys. Those are all in my carry-on, in a pouch.

 

I once had an opportunity to ask my House Rep. about the frequency of my being inspected and, in his opinion, it's because I'm member of the clergy.

 

I just hope that, in the midst of checking me and all the other people who are innocent, they also manage to flag for inspection those specific people who are planning on doing something nefarious. :)

[RaffinOrganGrinders]

I once had an opportunity to ask my House Rep. about the frequency of my being inspected and, in his opinion, it's because I'm member of the clergy.

 

I just hope that, in the midst of checking me and all the other people who are innocent, they also manage to flag for inspection those specific people who are planning on doing something nefarious. :)

IMHO the bad guys are laughing at us for the overall disruption in the world of consumer travel in America. The truth be known the bad guys will mostly just walk over the unguarded borders and drive where they want to go (valid license or not). :eek:

[ColoradoJuli]

I was talking to my mom about this thread. She has a friend that was pulled aside and searched. She said that her husband did not touch her the way the security guard did. Her wire bra apparently needed to be throughly searched. I also have a friend that is a flight attendant and she said that every crew member is throughly searched to the point that she feels like she is being raped.

 

Both mom & I think that there is way too much intrusion occuring on the flying community all in the name of security and that it is time for the American public to stand up let their voice be made known.

 

There is one thing that really bothers me about the report that it was women with bombs in their bras that set off the last couple bombs on planes. How on earth could they know? The evidence would have been blown to pieces and if they 'showed' them on the plane everyone on the plane is dead. Who would talk about it? And if the screeners knew that they were carrying bombs in their boobs, then why were they let on the plane? It seems very strange to me. And...if they are going to so throughly search women, then why are men not asked to turn their head and cough. It seems very one sided to me.

 

Women, don't even think about wearing a dress on a plane. You will have to have the screener climbing up your skirt.

 

This just really irks me (if you couldn't tell).

 

Stepping down off of soapbox.;)

[Winks]

"Those who would trade essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."

B. Franklin

 

Since we were attacked, and finally decided to defend ourselves from terrorists, we are going to have to be more diligent about whom we allow to board our flights. This is what we should have been doing ten years ago or earlier, after the terrorists announced that they were going to try to destroy us and attempted to take down the WTC in 1993. We may as well learn to live with tighter security - Certainly it's better than having suicide bombers on a plane with any of us. The terrorists don't care who is president. They want to wipe us all out.

 

Slinkie

[Sow There]

Having just returned through Frankfurt where their approach is no-nonsense and military armed with automatic rifles and machine guns are posted at every security station, and where full strip searches can and have been required, with no concerns about profiling or political correctness, I had two reactions:

 

1. I was not worried about my fellow passengers or the safety of our flight from Frankfurt.

2. We could use a little of the no-nonsense attitude here in the USA.

 

As for the plastic explosives in bras, that was, in fact, established as the method used in the two recent Russian crashes.

[bepsf]

I typically fly on an E-ticket and on a recent business trip the machine at check-in wouldn't service me. The United ticket rep was rather rude and wouldn't tell me anything except that I was on some sort of names list and to wait.

Hmph...

Finally, her supervisor arrived at the desk and asked me for alot more information than is typical - including my home address (which is on my ID that they always ask for anyway...). After he confirmed with someone on the phone that I was OK to fly, he took me aside and kindly explained that my name was similar to someone in connection w/ terrorism (really - I find that hard to believe...) I asked why I'd been pulled aside this time instead of all the times I'd flown before - particularly on my recent cruise from Seattle. Since I had made all my own previous arrangements and I always use my middle initial and frequent flier number, but this time the arrangements were made by my office admin and she apparently didn't use my middle initial OR frequent flier number, he reasoned that I was flagged because they couldn't determine which guy was flying...

Hmph.

BTW - I find that the better dressed I am for flying, the better treatment I recieve and the fewer checks I have at security.

[ekerr19]

BTW - I find that the better dressed I am for flying, the better treatment I recieve and the fewer checks I have at security.

Brian- We always try and dress appropriately as well, if I am traveling on business, it is even more important to me... and I have never had a problem at all.

 

I have no idea why I was flagged by U.S. Customs when re-entering the US... but, I hope it never happens to me again.

[temple10]

I have not seen an underwire bra made with wire in years, if you open it up it is a plastic piece. well maybe not plastic, seems harder than that. but it isn't wire. Do they still actually put wire in bra's anymore??:) Christine

[ColoradoJuli]

All of mine are real wires. I feel them too when they poke through the material. The ends have a plastic covering, but the wire itself is real wire.

[kryos]

As someone with a mild disability, I walk with a leg brace and a cane. Since 9/11 I have set off almost every machine I have gone through. Once you do that, its off to the pat down area.

I guess I'm really fortunate then. While I don't have a brace, I have extensive orthopedic hardware in both legs ... rods in both femurs and multiple pins going all the way from the knee to the hip. I've never set off a metal detector. Can't imagine why.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RevNeal]

...he took me aside and kindly explained that my name was similar to someone in connection w/ terrorism (really - I find that hard to believe...)

 

Haven't you heard of Osama Bin Brian ? :D

[K&RCurt]

Kyros:

Most orthopaedic "hardware" use inside the body is made of titanium. I believe the "Metal" detectors at the airports are really "iron" detectors as they work via magnetics. Most "metal" common objects (particlularly those that can be used as weapons) contain SOME iron and would activate the detector. Pure titanium embeded within skin and bone would not.

[wander]

Christine,

Oh the comment above about the wires poking through bra materials was so true. Yes, they definately are wire in bras AND eventually they work through the fabric and hurt!

[Winks]

Actually, no. At least not main stream dectectors. Metal detectors are usually either pulse induction or transmit/receive and react to all metals. Many, if not all, except pulse induction, have a discrination circuit which can eliminate or reduce reactions to various metals (has to do with ferrous content and the like). The ones you experienced may have metal such as titanium reduced or eliminated for the very reason that titanium, a neutral metal in terms of rejection in the body, is used for rods and pins.

 

Kyros:

Most orthopaedic "hardware" use inside the body is made of titanium. I believe the "Metal" detectors at the airports are really "iron" detectors as they work via magnetics. Most "metal" common objects (particlularly those that can be used as weapons) contain SOME iron and would activate the detector. Pure titanium embeded within skin and bone would not.

[ger_77]

My husband had a sextuple bypass a few years ago and his ribcage is "wired" together - every time we go through security, he sets off all the bells and whistles. (I don't know if it was titanium or barbed wire, but it certainly sets off the alarms!) He has learned to wear a shirt that he can open quickly to display his scar, rather than have to be strip searched for foreign objects on his person. He always travels in a sport jacket, golf shirt and dress pants for travelling, and he gets stopped wherever we go. It would seem strange to him if he ever sailed through security!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[sail7seas]

All by-pass (all open heart surgery where the chest is opened) involves wiring back together of the rib cage. I have had such surgery and am 'wired back together' but never set off the metal detector. I'm puzzled as to why your DH would be setting it off??? Wonder why?