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#1
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
In article , RPG
wrote: I just returned from a trip to FRA on AA. No hassle on the outbound, but on the way back, everyone ahead of me in line seemed to be spending five minutes or more at security. When I got to security, the El-Al-style questions included: How did you get to the aiport? Can you produce the ticket for the train? Why were you in Europe? Can you prove it? Where do you work? Do you have ID? They then showed me (and were showing everyone) one of those posters that have pictures of things you can't take on the plane. Did I have any of these things? I don't think I was singled out for questioning, everyone was being asked lots of questions. When I expressed surprise, the guy said "Maybe you don't fly AA, because we do this everywhere." But I do fly AA to LHR fairly regularly, and while there is a security "interview" at LHR, the questions I've fielded there have been perfectly reasonable, nothing like this. To my subsequent shame, I did show them a piece of paper that was evidence of what I had been doing in Europe. I declined to look for the S-bahn ticket and said I didn't have any employee ID; I also rolled my eyes when they showed me the laminated picture of the banned items, and said I'd been flying a long time. I was then selected for manual baggage search (sloppy and casual, but done right in front of everyone). I remember reading something here about this sort of thing happening on AA maybe 10 years ago, but that it was stopped after court cases. Am I right? Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? Maybe a little bit ... harsher than normal but perfectly normal for flights to the U.S. since Pan Am whatever. |
#2
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
In article , RPG
wrote: I just returned from a trip to FRA on AA. No hassle on the outbound, but on the way back, everyone ahead of me in line seemed to be spending five minutes or more at security. When I got to security, the El-Al-style questions included: How did you get to the aiport? Can you produce the ticket for the train? Why were you in Europe? Can you prove it? Where do you work? Do you have ID? They then showed me (and were showing everyone) one of those posters that have pictures of things you can't take on the plane. Did I have any of these things? I don't think I was singled out for questioning, everyone was being asked lots of questions. When I expressed surprise, the guy said "Maybe you don't fly AA, because we do this everywhere." But I do fly AA to LHR fairly regularly, and while there is a security "interview" at LHR, the questions I've fielded there have been perfectly reasonable, nothing like this. To my subsequent shame, I did show them a piece of paper that was evidence of what I had been doing in Europe. I declined to look for the S-bahn ticket and said I didn't have any employee ID; I also rolled my eyes when they showed me the laminated picture of the banned items, and said I'd been flying a long time. I was then selected for manual baggage search (sloppy and casual, but done right in front of everyone). I remember reading something here about this sort of thing happening on AA maybe 10 years ago, but that it was stopped after court cases. Am I right? Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? Maybe a little bit ... harsher than normal but perfectly normal for flights to the U.S. since Pan Am whatever. |
#3
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
RPG wrote:
I just returned from a trip to FRA on AA. No hassle on the outbound, but on the way back, everyone ahead of me in line seemed to be spending five minutes or more at security. When I got to security, the El-Al-style questions included: How did you get to the aiport? Can you produce the ticket for the train? Why were you in Europe? Can you prove it? Where do you work? Do you have ID? They then showed me (and were showing everyone) one of those posters that have pictures of things you can't take on the plane. Did I have any of these things? I don't think I was singled out for questioning, everyone was being asked lots of questions. When I expressed surprise, the guy said "Maybe you don't fly AA, because we do this everywhere." But I do fly AA to LHR fairly regularly, and while there is a security "interview" at LHR, the questions I've fielded there have been perfectly reasonable, nothing like this. To my subsequent shame, I did show them a piece of paper that was evidence of what I had been doing in Europe. I declined to look for the S-bahn ticket and said I didn't have any employee ID; I also rolled my eyes when they showed me the laminated picture of the banned items, and said I'd been flying a long time. I was then selected for manual baggage search (sloppy and casual, but done right in front of everyone). I remember reading something here about this sort of thing happening on AA maybe 10 years ago, but that it was stopped after court cases. Am I right? Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? we had this flying out of London on AA last year -- and they also did a horrendous job of managing the huge lines so that people who had been waiting a long time had a line of newcomers swept in ahead of them same silly sort of questioning with chip on shoulder but nothing like this year when we arrived in JFK taxied over to LaGuardia and found that the AA computers had been down all day and the lines were thousands long -- with no way to effectivelyy process anything -- a real nightmare after a trip that had already begun for us 16 hours earlier |
#4
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? IME German security does seem to be a bit harsher than most (outside the USA). IIRC It's the only place outside the US I have had my shoes scanned. |
#5
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? IME German security does seem to be a bit harsher than most (outside the USA). IIRC It's the only place outside the US I have had my shoes scanned. |
#6
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
I haven't been shown pretty pictures, but the questions are SOP for a US
carrier in Europe. |
#7
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
"RPG" wrote in message ... "Miss L. Toe" wrote in : Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? IME German security does seem to be a bit harsher than most (outside the USA). IIRC It's the only place outside the US I have had my shoes scanned. This wasn't German security. But were they German nationals ? Or Trained by Germans ? (not that I have anything against Germans) |
#8
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
"RPG" wrote in message ... "Miss L. Toe" wrote in : Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? IME German security does seem to be a bit harsher than most (outside the USA). IIRC It's the only place outside the US I have had my shoes scanned. This wasn't German security. But were they German nationals ? Or Trained by Germans ? (not that I have anything against Germans) |
#9
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the
exception, or is FRA? Keep in mind the 9/11 terrorists spent some time in Germany, so this might be part of the enhanced security. To be honest, I'm always surprised when people tell stories of "rolling their eyes" when asked these sort of questions, then complain when the lines are too long. Obviously ANYTHING that can introduce suspicion can slow down the line, including eye-rolling and attitude. If everyone just left the chips on their shoulder at the curbside and responded with "yes, sir, no, sir, thank you sir" the whole thing would go a lot faster. And if you're not happy with the security processes that are in place then DON'T FLY! If you're in a position where you have to travel to Europe for work I GUARANTEE you there is a junior person in your company who would like nothing better than the chance to cross the Atlantic, and if it's pleasure travel then stay at home and visit the grand canyon. I'm a Canadian and when I travel to the USA I get asked a lot of questions at check-in and at homeland security and at security. I answer every question courteously and with no bull and no attitude. If I don't like the questions well I can just choose not to go the USA and go visit the CN Tower instead. Cheers, Geoff Vancouver, Canada |
#10
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AA 3rd degree at FRA---normal? legal?
jenn wrote:
RPG wrote: I just returned from a trip to FRA on AA. No hassle on the outbound, but on the way back, everyone ahead of me in line seemed to be spending five minutes or more at security. When I got to security, the El-Al-style questions included: How did you get to the aiport? Can you produce the ticket for the train? Why were you in Europe? Can you prove it? Where do you work? Do you have ID? They then showed me (and were showing everyone) one of those posters that have pictures of things you can't take on the plane. Did I have any of these things? I don't think I was singled out for questioning, everyone was being asked lots of questions. When I expressed surprise, the guy said "Maybe you don't fly AA, because we do this everywhere." But I do fly AA to LHR fairly regularly, and while there is a security "interview" at LHR, the questions I've fielded there have been perfectly reasonable, nothing like this. To my subsequent shame, I did show them a piece of paper that was evidence of what I had been doing in Europe. I declined to look for the S-bahn ticket and said I didn't have any employee ID; I also rolled my eyes when they showed me the laminated picture of the banned items, and said I'd been flying a long time. I was then selected for manual baggage search (sloppy and casual, but done right in front of everyone). I remember reading something here about this sort of thing happening on AA maybe 10 years ago, but that it was stopped after court cases. Am I right? Is this level of questioning normal on AA in Europe? Is LHR the exception, or is FRA? we had this flying out of London on AA last year -- and they also did a horrendous job of managing the huge lines so that people who had been waiting a long time had a line of newcomers swept in ahead of them Had similar questioning at LHR and Stansted, in fact, Stansted was a bit more harsh than LHR. Also, at Stansted, they stated that disposable razors were not allowed, yet they did not catch it in my carry-on. (note: I would have never left it in the carry on, but didn't find out disposables were not allowed until I was in line.) As for shoes, many places in the US are still doing this. Funny thing is that one airport says it is required of everyone (San Diego), a different airport will say it is not necessary for everyone. Really makes me worry about the actual security quality from TSA if each airport seems to run by different rules. |
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