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Post by eliza61 on Nov 11, 2010 19:25:03 GMT
hello all, Here in the states we are having a huge blow out over our TSA, (transportation security agency) and recent practices. So we have new Xray machines called full body images. they are back scatter x ray machines that take full body pictures and leave very little to the imagination. You can opt out of these machine and have a TSA agent "pat-down" but of course that has opened up an entire new can of worms. every thing from calling agents pedophilic rapist to accusing the government of becoming a Nazi state . So what's the general security practice at your home airport? and how do most people feel about it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2010 20:02:14 GMT
Frankly, I have no problem with a machine seeing me more or less nude if it speeds up the security process. Even if only pervs apply for the job, who cares? They can't follow you on the plane and they don't know your name or address. Nevertheless, I do understand that tons of people in lots of countries are not really comfortable with this, so just about every airport in the world is still using traditional methods. As an airline employee who has gone just about "everywhere," I have had the opportunity to learn that in any case, airport security is a farce, even in the United States, even in Europe. I haven't been to Israel, though, so I can't comment on their exceptional reputation for security. I have been through 4 separate security checks in certain airports, all of them ridiculously incomplete. The only effectiveness that I can imagine is that anybody who is really trying to sneak something through will end up be so nervous that she will finally give herself away. (I did that on purpose, because I am so tired of people automatically saying "he/himself" .) Just about all of us have been through security with no problems whatsoever only to realize that we had scissors or a knife that we had forgotten about in our baggage. Anyway, to get back to one of the original questions about how people feel about the security procedures, I would say that just about everybody is fed up with them, but nobody thinks they should be discontinued. Most of the measures are just pandering to public opinion so that people will not be afraid to get on a plane, but they are still allowing tons of things that could be used as weapons: pens, glass objects (including eyeglasses), keys... Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of poisons that can pass the 'small quantity of liquid' rules. So it's all just for show in the end.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 11, 2010 21:53:22 GMT
We have used Toronto Pearson International many times and have found the security quite intense, thankfully. I will not mind if on our next trip we are body scanned, hopefully it helps catch future plots.
Everything goes through X-ray and sensors. A couple of times they had my husbands sweater up and almost off I guess they just wanted to make sure it was his belt making the scanner beep, but he was in plain view of everyone! Now he takes his belt and shoes off and puts them in the basket provided to go through the x-ray conveyor. I no longer wear an under wire bra or jewelery on fly days either. He also puts his wallet in the basket because of his badge, it always gets detected and then he has to show it.
All liquids go in our checked bags as well. We just do not want the hassle of worrying if we have the correct amounts in small bottles and to be in separate plastic bags to be able to carry on.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 11, 2010 22:57:06 GMT
In Cairo airport I've noticed you are not allowed to take a disposable lighter through to the gate, there is a further x-ray machine for carry on bags as you enter each gate. The strange thing though is that you go through all the normal checks to get 'air side' but at each gate their is a further check, as mentioned, and here they stop you taking any bottles of water you've bought air side into the gate room itself and then on to the plane. Needless to say there is no water at the gate either, so if you get thirsty you have to wait until you board.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2010 23:01:22 GMT
Last time I was in Singapore, they were proud to announce that you could take liquids on the flight as long as you were not flying to the UK or the US. I don't know if they have changed the rules since then.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 12, 2010 4:03:20 GMT
That's the way it should be.
Ask for the destination, adjust checks according to that.
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Post by bjd on Nov 12, 2010 7:52:32 GMT
From the time I have spent in airports in the past few years, I would think the worst hassles and lines are for flights destined for the States. No idea what it's like there, but I really don't feel like going to find out. But whether it's in Germany, France, Spain or elsewhere, announcement for security lines for the States are repeated endlessly. And in Madrid, they had a separate area for departures to the US.
Here in France, I have never had to take off my shoes, and you can actually joke a bit with the security people. At least in Toulouse, which is not that big an airport but fairly busy.
I went through Toronto's Pearson airport a couple of times lately and find them obnoxious and incompetent at the same time. They hassle you when you are going through security, but in the airport itself, people leave stacks of luggage sitting unattended on carts while they go to get something to eat. The security guards in the airport (are they all ancient Sikhs or just the ones I saw?) don't even pay attention. In France, they would be blowing up the suitcases.
I went through Tel Aviv airport but before 9/11. They were strict before I got on the plane in Amsterdam on the way there -- questions about who packed your bag, where are you going, etc. In Tel Aviv itself, on the way out, they questioned everybody and searched randomly. I remember a little old Filipino lady reduced to tears. For me, they were mostly wondering why I was alone and not in a group, where I had been, who I had stayed with. Already then (1997), you had to be at departure 4 hours before.
In 2003, in Nairobi, they x-rayed the bags even as you went into the terminal, before you even checked in. More searches afterwards, although I don't think they were all that competent. I had a huge panga (machete) in my backpack and they didn't find it with the x-rays. And the amount of stuff people were taking as carry-on was huge.
The most interesting was leaving Colombia last year. There are checks of carry-on as you get to the boarding lounge. About 15 soldiers going through everything, confiscating food. We had 2 hammocks that we had to unroll. Of course, the Colombians are more worried about what people are taking out of the country.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 9:27:47 GMT
I've just flown from Madrid back to Cairo and the only unusual question was from the x-ray man who did my carry on bag and was curious as to why I had ten packs of bacon in there.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 12, 2010 10:09:21 GMT
The only place I've ever had to take of my shoes, and I immediately started scowling at the customs guy, was in Taipeh, for a flight to Paris...
When I flew to Surabaya 3 weeks ago I bought a bottle of vodka as a present and packed it in my hand luggage (which they've always accepted). This time they tried being funny and said I'd have to leave it there. Then they took a roll of duct tape and also insisted I leave it with them.
So I said 'no, you're getting nothing'. Took the bottle of vodka back to the immigration guys and gave it to them, and threw the duct tape into a rubbish bin.
Customs people anywhere always bring out the best in me ;D
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Post by eliza61 on Nov 12, 2010 12:57:07 GMT
From the time I have spent in airports in the past few years, I would think the worst hassles and lines are for flights destined for the States. No idea what it's like there, but I really don't feel like going to find out. Here in France, I have never had to take off my shoes, and you can actually joke a bit with the security people. At least in Toulouse, which is not that big an airport but fairly busy. . One of the problem we have here in the states is that we tend to be "reactive" as opposed to "pro-active". The remove your shoes things came as a result of an attempted bombing where the person had the explosives in the heel of his shoes. The next issue is that the US is so just big. I'm on the East coast of the states and there are at least 4 major international airports, so the sheer volume of people that need to be scanned is immense. Truth of the matter becomes whats the balance. It's really a percentage game. Terrorist come up with new ways to try and hurt us, and we have to try and stay ahead of the game
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2010 14:55:33 GMT
I have to admit that I am amused at how many Americans think that American rules are the only rules. Leaving Paris, they spontaneously take off their shoes even when nobody asks them to. Of course, Paris is the airport from with the famous shoe bomber left, but security does realize that only boots and big clunky shoes need to go through the machine, not ordinary shoes.
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Post by mich64 on Nov 13, 2010 0:18:36 GMT
The shoes my husband would wear ( his most favorite for comfort ) had some metal on them and that is why he would have to remove them, they had would beep going through the body scanner. He's been removing these shoes since before the "shoe bomber" incident. Fortunately, they went in the trash this year! ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 13, 2010 4:18:23 GMT
Interesting topic. I have sort of stayed away from it because, honestly, I think most of the airport security measures are sheerest bullshit and they make me extremely cranky. Think about it -- your forearm can be a lethal weapon. Are they going to make us wear straightjackets so we can't employ our arms?
As Eliza points, out, it's all stuff that's done after the fact. There has to be some way to target terrorists, but that stops treating regular people like criminals. And the water thing is just cruel and wrong.
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