Airlines Playing 20 Questions





The TSA
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I can see the interview going this way

Checkin staff “Question 1... are you a terrorist ?”

Passenger “No”

Checkin staff “Welcome aboard”


It’s as stupid as the procedure the Brits implementated at the height of the IRA activity
 
Katamarino said:
The UK, too. Can't remember about Canada...
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Canada is so nice they let you leave the country before you even get on the plane...

Of course it makes some sense logistically to clear US immigration and customs before departing Calgary when flying to the US. Can’t say it’s a time saver though.
 
Anymouse said:
In my case, we were ferrying a plane from Australia to Afghanistan. They took us each into a room and interrogated us. The questioning went something like this...

You're in the military.
No
The plane is a military plane.
No
But you're in the military.
No
The plane is military and you're in the military.
No

And so on for about an hour.

I don't care to go back to India.
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No surprise to me. Landing in Afghanistan? Remember that India has some real security concerns with Pakistan who also messes with Afghanistan, I'm not surprised at all.
 
Anymouse said:
Luggage tags is one thing I don't do (except for that flimsy thing you get at the ticket counter). Those are great for marking yourself.
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Right. "Hold me up" or "Kidnap me"
 
Anymouse said:
Luggage tags is one thing I don't do (except for that flimsy thing you get at the ticket counter). Those are great for marking yourself.
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Which is exactly why my luggage tags were my university, not my full-time employer, and had my university address and phone #.

Momma didn't raise no dumb chile...
 
Anymouse said:
The US is the ONLY country I've been to that doesn't require you to stand in line at passport control to get out of the country.
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In the US airlines are required to submit it electronically - I've seen Customs come on and pull people off of flights - some were questioned and returned, others were not seen again.

By the way, full exit controls ARE coming to the US: http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea...-immigration-checks-leave-us-not-just-arrive/

Timbeck2 said:
When I went to Scotland a couple years ago we had to stand in two different lines according to citizens and non-citizens. So I stood in line with all the Asian people and was about 4th in a line of at least 40 non-citizens. As I got to the passport stamping area, the agent looked it over, stamped it and gave it back, then I went to a guy in a suit who started asking me a bunch of questions. I explained that I was retired US military and was visiting a friend who was on a pilot exchange in the RAF flying Tornadoes. Then he asked me a lot of questions I don't remember but I started getting annoyed while all the other 44 or so people walked right on through while he felt the need to question me. I could see the baggage carousel right behind him and when he finally finished and let me go, the baggage carousel had stopped and someone had took my bag off of it because it was the only one left. Maybe I got a trainee or the guy just wanted to talk to someone who spoke English, I'll never know.
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I got detained and questioned at Amsterdam one time where the airline lost my checked bag and I was the last one out of the baggage area. They were polite, x-rayed my briefcase, and asked a few questions. My checked bag showed a day later.

Anymouse said:
I tend to give fairly generic answers myself. Like you, it's not to be unfriendly, but more in that I don't want to advertise my business to the unwashed masses. You never really know just who you're standing next to.
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I do that too. Sometimes the questioners take it as evasive. A friend got a retaliatory 45 minute search at Heathrow when he answered generically and got annoyed as they asked deeper and more detailed questions - that was within the last month.

MauleSkinner said:
Back when they used to do "random" screening at the gate, I finally started pre-boarding so I didn't delay the flight, as I was "randomly" selected every time.
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I'd watch and not board until I saw that they'd already pulled folks aside.

murphey said:
But TSA screeners are not LEOs. Of course they can call the locals over to the line to chat with you.

In addition to possible SEC violations, there's also the issue of people with DOD and other Dept. security clearances traveling and not allowed to discuss or even identify what locations/companies were visited.
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Yep.
 
Scrabo said:
I can see the interview going this way

Checkin staff “Question 1... are you a terrorist ?”

Passenger “No”

Checkin staff “Welcome aboard”


It’s as stupid as the procedure the Brits implementated at the height of the IRA activity
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With our TSA very probably. The source of this is the Israelis and the answers aren't as much as their focus as other indicators they can pick up during a conversation.
 
Israel has been doing this 20-questions thing for a long time. There's some science behind it, actually... they're watching for "tells" when the questions are asked, and no... they don't expect anyone will be dumb enough to answer that they're doing bad things in the affirmative.

It's highly likely that there's a camera somewhere in your field of view watching for small details when you're being questioned, too... look for it. :)
 
Salty said:
With our TSA very probably. The source of this is the Israelis and the answers aren't as much as their focus as other indicators they can pick up during a conversation.
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Ahh, you beat me to it. :)
 
paflyer said:
Surprised the guy didn't think you drove from Mexico.
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I expect most Canadians know the difference. But there's a remarkable number of southern US citizens that have no clue where Montana is.
 
Anymouse said:
The US is the ONLY country I've been to that doesn't require you to stand in line at passport control to get out of the country...
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Maybe not. But if you fly your airplane across the border into Canada you have to file that stupid exit eAPIS to get out legally. When you head back home the country you are leaving doesn't require any such thing (and nobody will check your passport before departure either). ;)
 
Anymouse said:
In my case, we were ferrying a plane from Australia to Afghanistan. They took us each into a room and interrogated us. The questioning went something like this...

You're in the military.
No
The plane is a military plane.
No
But you're in the military.
No
The plane is military and you're in the military.
No

And so on for about an hour.

I don't care to go back to India.
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That sounds like an exciting trip! I got detained in The Gambia because they thought we were drug smuggling. Turned out that the head of our CPR baby mannequin had this in it (sand) for weight. Nice design, guys...

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Salty said:
With our TSA very probably. The source of this is the Israelis and the answers aren't as much as their focus as other indicators they can pick up during a conversation.
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But I doubt if many if any TSA folks can read another person well enough to discern any sort of deception, malfeasance, etc.
 
GRG55 said:
I expect most Canadians know the difference. But there's a remarkable number of southern US citizens that have no clue where Montana is.
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Don't be too sure. Plenty of Americans have no idea New Mexico is part of the US.

Case in point...girl that worked for me went to South Carolina for college. Freshman year they put her in the international dorm because she was from another country. Higher Ed at its finest.
 
Heh heh... When I drove through Canada, there were several Canadians that didn't have a clue where Alaska was.

Getting a bit more local, I recently had a FB chat with a friend of mine that had recently moved to Tennessee. She told me the town she had moved to. I asked if that was in eastern Tennessee. She said, "I think it is." I looked it up on Mapquest and it was pretty damn near the North Carolina border.
 
SkyDog58 said:
But I doubt if many if any TSA folks can read another person well enough to discern any sort of deception, malfeasance, etc.
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Actually, some of them are specifically trained for exactly that, hence the conversational questioning that I mentioned a whole bunch of posts ago. I'll agree those folks are probably in the vast minority of the Tub Stacker's Amalgamated.
 
Anymouse said:
Actually, some of them are specifically trained for exactly that, hence the conversational questioning that I mentioned a whole bunch of posts ago. I'll agree those folks are probably in the vast minority of the Tub Stacker's Amalgamated.
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This right here. If you start sweating all of sudden, look nervous, glancing around....you better have a reasonable excuse for that behavior.
 
mscard88 said:
This right here. If you start sweating all of sudden, look nervous, glancing around....you better have a reasonable excuse for that behavior.
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Standing in the TSA line like...
178F9939-67C8-441B-9904-7ED660F8999C.gif
 
TSA: Has anyone introduced any objects into your luggage without your knowledge?

ME: If they did it without my knowledge, how would I know?

TSA: That’s why we ask.
 
wsuffa said:
I'd watch and not board until I saw that they'd already pulled folks aside.
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Wouldn't matter...if your ticket was "randomly selected", you got searched.

And it wasn't random. I fit the profile They thought was dangerous at the time, apparently because it was a profile that the 9/11 terrorists didn't use.
 
GRG55 said:
I expect most Canadians know the difference. But there's a remarkable number of southern US citizens that have no clue where Montana is.
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Well, that points out how well the trillions we've spent on "education" over the last 50 years has panned out.
 
mscard88 said:
This right here. If you start sweating all of sudden, look nervous, glancing around....you better have a reasonable excuse for that behavior.
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Yeah, like the f'ing line is so long and slow moving that you're running a real risk of missing your flight.
 
flyingron said:
TSA: Has anyone introduced any objects into your luggage without your knowledge?

ME: If they did it without my knowledge, how would I know?

TSA: That’s why we ask.
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Well, they got you there!
 
wsuffa said:
That doesn't stop them. I have seen them do questioning before - I got designated for the SSSS screening by TSA at a US airport because I declined to answer a couple of questions that would violate an NDA and possible result in an SEC violation. 40 minutes later, I was freed from the checkpoint.

At DCA one time, I saw the TSA searching a gentleman's wallet and asking him about each piece of paper and card in there. I see that as a potential 4th Amendment violation and highly invasive, but it was done anyway.

Domestically, they're requiring all electronics larger than a cell phone out of all bags, and each placed in an individual bin. The predictable result is much slower screening and longer lines. Article from one newspaper yesterday: http://www.richmond.com/business/ne...cle_f127a788-b356-53e4-811e-b42d5befba2d.html
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I ran into this nonsense requiring me to remove all electronics larger than a cell phone for the first time Friday leaving Kauai.

I swear that TSA at the Lihue airport is the worst, most incompetent, overbearing bunch of McDonalds rejects in the country. I love going to that island for vacation, but I dread dealing with the TSA idiots there more than anywhere else. Didn't have TSA Pre-check this time as we were riding Island Air over to Oahu before catching UA the rest of the say. At least riding UA the rest of the way and having lifetime status on them got us out of having pay to check bags. Having to take my camera and tablet out was the least of the problems. My wife was delayed as they were training new idiots on how to swab for explosives, and they swabbed every package of candy she bought at an ABC store. My kids were traveling with their 3 year olds and got held up. It's amazing how those fools can destroy the happiness that you get visiting that island so fast leaving it. Good grief, at least wait for the airlines to get you upset with their continually shrinking seats. And after all this one of them had the nerve to wish me a pleasant day. After they had done their best to ruin it. Did I mention how much I detest TSA at the Lihue airport?

I don't have these problems anywhere else in the world, and not even most places in the US.

I had a TSA drone at SEA ask me one day what I was doing. I answered, "Doing my imitation of self loading cargo on a pressurized aluminum mailing tube!" Shut him down cold and he didn't ask another stupid question.

One more trip this year and I'm done with airlines until January.
 
abqtj said:
Don't be too sure. Plenty of Americans have no idea New Mexico is part of the US.
.
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I tell people that New Mexico is neither new nor is it Mexico. Most people just laugh in that I don't understand type of laugh....
 
Well why is it called New if it ain't new? I mean, NH, Ny, Nj are new. Why wouldn't NM be? :confused:
 
Zeldman said:
I tell people that New Mexico is neither new nor is it Mexico. Most people just laugh in that I don't understand type of laugh....
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Land of Enchantment... what should I expect, something like Wonderland, where's Alice?

Ok, New Mexico encompasses the Chihuahuan Desert and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains... sounds like Mexico to me!
 
mscard88 said:
Well why is it called New if it ain't new? I mean, NH, Ny, Nj are new. Why wouldn't NM be? :confused:
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New Mexico is the 47th state, so I guess it is newer than 46 other states.

But a lot of the little towns still look very similar to what they looked like 75 years ago....
 
GlennAB1 said:
Land of Enchantment... what should I expect, something like Wonderland, where's Alice?

Ok, New Mexico encompasses the Chihuahuan Desert and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains... sounds like Mexico to me!
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And a lot of Spanish spoken here as well, also Navajo. Fly just a little north of the border and you will see thousands upon thousands of well worn trails coming from the border heading north.
 
Salty said:
They literally can and do touch you.
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Yep, and their new rules tell the to use the fronts of their hands and feel everything. A real opportunity for those that are interested in the same sex...
 
I get felt up... errr... patted down far more when I go through the modern expensive high tech scanners than through the old fashioned metal detector. What an improvement!
 
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