Airport security returning home to the u.s.

[twochromic]

Urlaub, I wouldn't like it either, but I don't think you are correct. Each time I have encountered secondary screening it has NOT been done by official US Government staff.

 

Here's where US says they have inspectors outside the US, taken direct from their website:

 

Today, CBP has more than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 air Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada. CBP also staffs a Pre-inspection facility for passenger/vehicle ferry traffic to the U.S. in Victoria, Canada.

[njhorseman]

Urlaub, I wouldn't like it either, but I don't think you are correct. Each time I have encountered secondary screening it has NOT been done by official US Government staff.

 

Here's where US says they have inspectors outside the US, taken direct from their website:

 

 

Today, CBP has more than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 air Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada. CBP also staffs a Pre-inspection facility for passenger/vehicle ferry traffic to the U.S. in Victoria, Canada.

 

 

Those are the countries where full US immigration and customs screenings are done prior to your boarding the aircraft. As a result when the flight arrives in the US it is treated as a domestic flight and no further customs and immigration screenings are performed.

 

This is not done via some unilateral fiat declared by the US government. It's the result of agreements reached between the US and the named countries.

[kerryincork]

Those are the countries where full US immigration and customs screenings are done prior to your boarding the aircraft. As a result when the flight arrives in the US it is treated as a domestic flight and no further customs and immigration screenings are performed.

 

This is not done via some unilateral fiat declared by the US government. It's the result of agreements reached between the US and the named countries.

They have this type of screening in Dublin. People will fly through Dublin just so they can do security this side of the pond and then have a really quick exit on the other side.

I have been through Dublin and they are American personnel. I do wonder how long they have to stay in Ireland for?

 

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[njhorseman]

They have this type of screening in Dublin. People will fly through Dublin just so they can do security this side of the pond and then have a really quick exit on the other side.

I have been through Dublin and they are American personnel. I do wonder how long they have to stay in Ireland for?

 

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Yes, you'll note that Dublin is one of the airports listed in the material quoted by poster twochromic, and that the same material says that there are over 600 officers stationed at the 15 locations. I have no idea how long they are typically stationed at these locations.

[Paulchili]

I have been through Dublin and they are American personnel. I do wonder how long they have to stay in Ireland for?

 

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Ditto for Abu Dhabi.

I wonder if either one of these is viewed as a reward or punishment by the staff? :D

[RJB]

That is the problem. You need to have alle the procedures to come to Europe also. I hope Europe will do this soon for US citizens! I will see you if in NYC a Europeen officer will control your American passport. I hope they do it also like Esta what we need to do. USA with all the weapons in private hands is the most unsafe country I know. And not tourists like we make your country unsafe. This is what you do for yourself.

I don't think we have a problem, Europe has the unsafe problem. Terror attacks all over the place and if we can have more security checks before people get on the plane it makes it me very happy.

[Paulchili]

Urlaub, I wouldn't like it either, but I don't think you are correct. Each time I have encountered secondary screening it has NOT been done by official US Government staff.

 

Here's where US says they have inspectors outside the US, taken direct from their website:

Today, CBP has more than 600 law enforcement officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 air Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Freeport and Nassau in The Bahamas; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg in Canada. CBP also staffs a Pre-inspection facility for passenger/vehicle ferry traffic to the U.S. in Victoria, Canada.

 

That was my impression as well - secondary checks are done by local authorities except as indicated above (Frankfurt or any other German airport is not on the list).

I will be flying out of Frankfurt to US later this year on an US airline and will watch for this.

[Mura]

I'm interested in all the posts indicating this second screening isn't anything unusual -- we have traveled internationally quite a bit for a number of years sand this was the first time we encountered a second screening, which is why I started this thread to begin with. I thought it must be something new.

 

I don't know if it matters at all that most if not all of our flights have been non-stops ...

 

But at least we now know it can happen, and going by what we saw in Lisbon -- if we see a large gap in time between "boarding" and "departure", it may well mean we'll be undergoing a second screening. We won't have a problem with that if so.

 

Mura

[Hambagahle]

It happened to me in Zürich when flying to Miami last year. Some years ago we had a second passport check when flying to the UK from Switzerland. That has been dropped. But suddenly on the MIA flight there was one and the officer (local security company not US) smiled and said "You have been selected to receive a further security check" as though I had just won a lottery!! I asked where to go and was told that at that moment there was no woman officer present and I should just sit down with my husband and I would be called when she arrived. So I did. And she arrived and waived me (not my husband) forward. I decided that the process would be a lot faster if I only had my handbag so I got up with that, leaving my computer bag with Ken. She took me into a screened area. Searched me and my handbag and stamped my boarding pass. So much for that!

But we had similar checks when going to Alaska from Seattle in 2005. We had a one way flight that time and in the US that seems to trigger a stamp on the boarding pass and one is then "selected" for additional screening.

 

How I wish they would bring back the system that was in force in Asia in the 80's and 90's - ALL luggage, cabin and hold, was pre-checked before check in. Hold baggage was sealed with a sturdy cable and then checked. Cabin baggage was given to you after you arrived inside the sterile security area. Took time but it felt safe.

[Floridiana]

 

 

I thought I'd mention this to you all because I have no idea how prevalent it is these days. It will be interesting to hear if this is a common experience or if there was just some alert directed at our flight.

 

We weren't delayed by the process and our flight did leave on time.

 

Mura

 

Mura,

 

We had this second security check of carry on luggage (by hand!) right at the gate in Beijing and Lima. They took away the water bottles of passengers who bought them in the shops behind the first security barrier. Years ago, passengers to the US were taken to a separate waiting area in Auckland and in Frankfurt, but there was no second security check.

 

In the meantime, I take it for granted that there might be second security check and I do not even remember if we had one in Hong Kong, but my friend said she 'lost' her water bottle there. So we must have had one as well.

[4Lakes Lady]

I'm of the opinion that most security checks are not that secure. I recall traveling from the US to Kyrgyzstan in the 90's via Turkish Air. In Istanbul, after going through the regular security, at boarding time we we're bused to the plane. On the tarmac, all luggage was displayed. Everyone had to identify their personal checked bags and then they were loaded on to the plane. I can't even imagine that scenario today!

 

 

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[urlaub]

Urlaub, I wouldn't like it either, but I don't think you are correct. Each time I have encountered secondary screening it has NOT been done by official US Government staff.

 

Here's where US says they have inspectors outside the US, taken direct from their website:

 

I can only tell you that the persons who did the second control at the gate didn't speak German and told me they came from US Consulat. They had some signs on their jackets, which seemed official. I don't know them.

This is, what I can tell you whatever US says.

[neepawa]

Traveling from Frankfurt to Toronto in 1996 on Air Canada, I had an experience similar to that of 4LakedLady. After going through the regular security, I was bused to the plane. On the tarmac, all baggage was on open carts. Everyone had to identify their personal checked bags and then they were loaded on to the plane,this all happened in the pouring rain.

 

Cheers,

 

Don

[Mura]

I have come to that conclusion as well. Enough people have posted here that second checks have been around for quite a while. We just had never experienced one before.

 

Now we know.

 

Mura

[Lori Dobson]

Of all the security checks I have been through, the one that stands out the most is the big German woman (i forget which airport) who selected me for "extra" screening. She took her time about it - and there was lots of squeezing. In my upper region (I'm a C/D cup). And the smile on her face while she did it.

 

I should have been offerred a cigarette afterwards.

[MarkieMarkNYC]

Of all the security checks I have been through, the one that stands out the most is the big German woman (i forget which airport) who selected me for "extra" screening. She took her time about it - and there was lots of squeezing. In my upper region (I'm a C/D cup). And the smile on her face while she did it.

 

I should have been offerred a cigarette afterwards.

 

LOL! :loudcry:

I had a similar experience during a secondary screen flying home from Rome last year. The guy spent enough time "down there" that I wondered if I should give him my phone number.

I mean, I'm flattered but it's not a weapon!

[Lori Dobson]

LOL! :loudcry:

I had a similar experience during a secondary screen flying home from Rome last year. The guy spent enough time "down there" that I wondered if I should give him my phone number.

I mean, I'm flattered but it's not a weapon!

 

 

Hey, you might have been hiding an AK-47 in there... :');p

[Petoonya]

LOL! :loudcry:

I had a similar experience during a secondary screen flying home from Rome last year. The guy spent enough time "down there" that I wondered if I should give him my phone number.

I mean, I'm flattered but it's not a weapon!

Makes me think of the Mae West line, "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" !!!

[PaulMCO]

When we fly from Frankfurt we use Lufthansa. And I am definitely not against security check. But I don't want to have the check from a foreign country person.

In Frankfurt we go through security and we have also the passport control. Later at the gate there is a second control and this control is made by Americans. This is what me makes angry.

 

Who says you get a check by "foreign country person". The secondary screens at FRA are done by private security firms hired by the airline (my case UA) using German citizens. Had there been that type of security in place at Boston and DC -- there would have not been a 9/11. Had baggage security been better in Germany there would have not been Pan Am 103.

 

If you get SSSS on your boarding pass that's when the fun starts,,

[MarkieMarkNYC]

Who says you get a check by "foreign country person". The secondary screens at FRA are done by private security firms hired by the airline (my case UA) using German citizens. Had there been that type of security in place at Boston and DC -- there would have not been a 9/11. Had baggage security been better in Germany there would have not been Pan Am 103.

 

If you get SSSS on your boarding pass that's when the fun starts,,

That's quite a claim given the impressive failure rate of the TSA to intercept weapons.

[PaulMCO]

That's quite a claim given the impressive failure rate of the TSA to intercept weapons.

Just the appearance of checking is enough to deter.

[MarkieMarkNYC]

Just the appearance of checking is enough to deter.

So the appearance of checking would have prevented 9/11?

[RJB]

So the appearance of checking would have prevented 9/11?

Don't think so...

[Hawaiidan]

Amigos. my last words having worked in the highest levels of counter-terrorism...

European security for the most part is so pathetic, except for Israel and Switzerland , and governed by political correct governs that it is frightening. The PR is everything is hunky-dory.....it is far from that. Flying from any overseas airport except as mentioned is a " dead mans hand" Me I only fly in to or out of Switzerland... I gauge my risks by professional experience. I am a risk taker pilot, climber ,military I can take risk when they are, or have manageable options..... Today they are so few I wont take that risk.

Smile and ignore the elephant in the room.... he is there to kill you. No joke... the game is escalating exponentially and no one wants you to believe that. THe reason US agents in Euro airports....incompetent. political correct, infiltrated security! Is that enough?

 

 

You do what you want... Me So will I.

Do not believe the PR od many agents , countries, operators and sages....it is later than one dare thinks.:loudcry:

[RJB]

Amigos. my last words having worked in the highest levels of counter-terrorism...

European security for the most part is so pathetic, except for Israel and Switzerland , and governed by political correct governs that it is frightening. The PR is everything is hunky-dory.....it is far from that. Flying from any overseas airport except as mentioned is a " dead mans hand" Me I only fly in to or out of Switzerland... I gauge my risks by professional experience. I am a risk taker pilot, climber ,military I can take risk when they are, or have manageable options..... Today they are so few I wont take that risk.

Smile and ignore the elephant in the room.... he is there to kill you. No joke... the game is escalating exponentially and no one wants you to believe that. THe reason US agents in Euro airports....incompetent. political correct, infiltrated security! Is that enough?

 

 

You do what you want... Me So will I.

Do not believe the PR od many agents , countries, operators and sages....it is later than one dare thinks.:loudcry:

You can't know how much I agree with you. We must have better security for planes coming to the U.S. And we need to provide it ourselves as these countries can not or will not do it. Especially Germany. They seem to be the worst both at the airport and within their own country. Not a place to go these days. Too bad.