Random searches at airports suck!

[Nemesis77]

Did they do the dreaded "body cavity search" 😛?? I bet those things are fuuu-un!! Espesially if done in front of the other boarding passengers :Q😛!!

 

[Dhawk]

I fly almost every week with my job. A couple of things that I have observed with the random searches are:

• They are random and there is no ryhmm or reason for who they pick to search when boarding the plane.

• I have been told that there is certain critereia for doing some searches that are pre-determined, logged in the airline computer and could target you for a search when they scan your ticket for boarding at the gate. EG:Buying a one way ticket at the last moment with cash.

• I have found out that you have a greater chance of being picked for a random search if you are one of the first or last in line at the ticket scan ciosk(SP?)

• I too think the whole random search thing is nothing more than a political dog and poney show.

• I too have noticed that the quality of the security personell do not appear to be trained professional security personel and I have to question their decision making abilities

• I am a 43 year old, blond hair, blue eyed, white male, buisiness traveler and have been picked picked quite a few times for their random searches. Less now that I have fiqured out not to be at the front or back of the line. I do not believe that there is any racial profiling when it comes to the true random searches, unless you fit certain questionable criteria and are picked by the computer when buying your ticket.

 

[Spagina]

Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
These random searches aren't being performed to increase security, they aren't even being performed to make the average person *think* there is increased security, they are being performed so the people pulling the strings in this country & the airline business can say 'Hey, look at us, there is a problem and were are doing something about it. Re-elect us and keep giving us your money.' It's all armflapping, and we tolerate it. 🙁

Exactly. People who run around clamoring "Oh well, it's the sign of the times" are sheep. This whole airport security business is a fiasco. Just today, someone boarded a plane in San Diego I believe after setting off an alarm at the San Diego airport. They couldn't call back the flight because it was too far in it's flight, so they asked for the people getting off from Phoenix to get checked as they left the plane. So the flight lands at Phoenix, WITHOUT INCIDENT. The security at Phoenix was late to the gate though and everyone had already deboarded and left the terminal, but security then decided to evacuate the entire terminal well after the fact. Funny thing was, the flight went through without a problem, the plane deboarded without a problem, and there wasn't a problem afterwards in the terminal. Did this warrant having to shutdown a terminal? It's an utter joke and the public are fools for stringing along with this BS. It's just a show. The added airport security would do no better than what the security did pre-9/11, and that's a fact.

 

[chickendinner]

Yes i hate airports to begin with and the searches dont help.

 

[SyahM]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
One thing to watch out for is the fact that Malaysia is the world's most populous Muslim country. I'm not sure of the ethnic distribution of the population, but my guess is that there are a significant amount of Asians who live there.

Malaysia is not the world's most populous Muslim country, we only have 23 Million people and maybe around 70% are muslims. Indonesia has more muslim than we do, heck China has more than us.

There are three main ethnic; malay, chinese and indians. We malays look pretty similar to indonesians, thais and mexicans. I guess this is because of our geographic (lie on khatulistiwa line).

 

[AgentofEvil]

Well these new stepped up security measures don't seem to be as effective as they should be. A couple of days ago a german tourist flew into NZ with a hunting knife and a pistol in his carryon baggage. link here Apparently he got them onto four flights.

 

[cavingjan]

Who gets searched is not determined by the gate people although I do believe they have the ability to add extra people they feel needs searched. The airlines computer is the one determining who gets randomly searched (thus the kids). Besides who wants to be the one to make the decision and base it on racial profiling and have that crazy white guy come through and blow everybody up. Yes in the recent past, the majority have been of middle eastern decent but I wouldn't bet my life that the trend will hold true.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Interestingly, active-duty military members are exempted from the random searches, whether or not they are travelling on orders. Even as a military member this seems odd to me.

 

[tcsenter]

Those that claim the 'random' searches are a joke because they are window dressing only, must therefore feel that 'effective' security would be mandatory strip searches of every passenger, not random searches. Is that what you are advocating then, instead of these 'ineffective' security measures?

For some reason, I strongly suspect if the FAA were to implement these "effective" security measures, these same people would be the first ones whining and complaining about that.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: cavingjan
Who gets searched is not determined by the gate people although I do believe they have the ability to add extra people they feel needs searched. The airlines computer is the one determining who gets randomly searched (thus the kids). Besides who wants to be the one to make the decision and base it on racial profiling and have that crazy white guy come through and blow everybody up. Yes in the recent past, the majority have been of middle eastern decent but I wouldn't bet my life that the trend will hold true.

sorry buts its mostly random and picked by the gate attendent. Especially on SW, when they have no way of knowing who you are when they pick you out to be searched.

 

[kranky]

I'm white. I have been on 8 flights since 9/11, and pulled aside for extra scrutiny on 6 of the 8.

I don't care a bit that it takes 10 extra minutes, I'm only going to be sitting at the gate waiting to board anyway.

 

[308nato]

Originally posted by: Lucky
get this,

I bought a laser pointer in kansas city on vacation as a toy for my cat. Flying back through chicago, they saw the laser pointer during a search of my bags before boarding (yea, I got pulled for the random search). He opens the packaging, removes the batteries, and tells me I'm not allowed to keep them because I could use the pointer as a "terrorist device" by immatating a pointer on a gun. (???). So the bastard wont even tell me what kind of batteries they were (not important, he said") and I was forced to buy another pair when I got home at radioshack. Incidentally, the cost of the repl. batteries was as much as I paid for the whole damm thing new.

:|

He did you a favor. Had you happened to turn that pointer on in the presence of an armed Air Marshal you would have been "incapacitated" immediately. Law enforcement officers are trained that when you see the beam of a laser it is to be assumed that on one end of the beam is a target and the other end a weapon with a laser sight.

We would hate to see your @ss stomped thru the floorboards because your kitty toy took a Marshal 4 rows back by surprise.

😛

 

[brtspears2]

I got randomly searched once. They tried to take my AA batteries, punchdown tool, 30ft of CAT5, and a nailclipper.

Instead of the damn searcher taking my toys, I forced him to either: A.) Check in my bag..... or B.) Let me goto a trash can to destroy these items.

He looked rather upset since he wasnt getting my toys, and I yelled at southwest counter to check my bag on since the searcher was being a little theif. How the heck do I become a terrorist with a 4 pack of AA's, punchdown tool with no sharp edges, and 30 ft of CAT5... And a nailclipper, whooo, im gonna give the pilots a maniucure while I highjack....

 

[BlueApple]

Originally posted by: kranky

I don't care a bit that it takes 10 extra minutes, I'm only going to be sitting at the gate waiting to board anyway.

Exactly. 🙂 Like I really need to down a few of those damn Cinnabons to keep my blood sugar from going on a roller coaster. 😛

 

[dude]

Yes, they wouldn't let me on once because I had a nail clipper that was hooked up to my keys that had the little pathetic nail file attachment (wtf?)
Once for a pocket wrench that was 2" long...
Another time for a 3" blade....

I understood the blade because I forgot to take it out of my pockets, but the others? Come on!