General Chat

There are two acceptable Universal locks for the US, one is preferred over the other. It operates on a sort of Master key system

Both can be opened and then re-locked, with the Master key one being easier

OH had one of those locks on his case ........ they cut it off, so the case then travelled from Chicago to Toronto, and then on another flight to here without being secure.

He was really worried because the documents had been given to him at a meeting on pain of "not to be shared with anyone". He had not wanted to carry the file with him, but I guess he really should have done!

The meeting had been held at Hamburger University :-D



Shirley .............. we also travelled from Vancouver to the UK a few days after 9/11. All we took for a 2 week trip was a carry-on bag each.

It was mainly a business trip for OH with some family/friend visits in between.

We were supposed to leave on the 12th, had to re-book the whole flight and didn't leave until the 14th ...... instead of direct to London on AC, we had to go to Calgary and then to London.

I remember waiting in a line-up for well over an hour outside the airport in hot sun ............. I had a small bottle of sun lotion in my bag, and ended up sharing with people around me, including one bald man with no hat!!

My blow dryer caused a bit of a problem at security .......... they searched our cases, and insisted on testing the blow dryer. BUT it was an English-bought one and so wouldn't work in any of the sockets they could find.

Eventually, they put it back through the X-ray machine, looked at the maker's name etc, and let me take it with me!


We had to check our 2 carry-ons at London airport for the return trip ......... we'd bought books, and each of them thus weighed just over 10 kilos. I think one was 10.5 kilo and the other was just under 11 kilo. But they wouldn't budge :-D

Isn't there a type of Universal lock?

We had a bag opened during an internal US flight. If it hadn't been for the advisory leaflet they'd put in there, we'd never had known. The padlocks didn't appear to have been tampered with.

Sylvia - what a terrible state of affairs.

One american trip we were told not to use locks on cases as they could be broken. Incidentally we never have anything of value in the cases and never lock them.

Well I am not complaining as do understand BUT....

Hubby and I and my sister and one of her sons went to visit our sister and BIL who live in Canada in 2001

Our sister and BIL went to Canada in 1977and he worked at Vancouver Airport

Our one and only visit was sept 2001 for two weeks so we were there when 9/11 happened . We watched on TV the awful events as they unfolded .
We had intended at that time to go to Seattle as they were near the border but decided to rearrange the schedule to take in the local sand sculpture event and then do Seattle a couple of days later

WELL the events that unfolded beggared belief BUT we all then thought we cant do anything but go on with the holiday

We were on standby tickets as BIL was employed by Air Canada so he kept an eye on when Vancouver airport reopened and the home flight we were booked

After lots of phone calls emails etc we were told the homeward flight was going so to go to the airport . we checked in . had our luggage scanned and went on it way / I had hand luggage with overnight laundry including my cosmetic bag BEE thing on going through the scanner showed my metal manicure file i had forgotten about . Plus I had packed in my hand luggage some souvenirs of tribal things

Blimey I was met with guns because of the nail file and they didnt understand the words presents or souvenirs

Said to the guy I didn't think about the nail file but take it I can buy a new one BUT i bought the presents from your country to take home so if this isnt OK you should stop the tourist sites seling em

After feeling I was public enemy nos one I was let through

NOW i do accept that this was at the time of an International disaster so I do understand

DET is perfectly correct ..................


airport security at the gate of many American airports do work on a system of taking every 10th or 12th or whatever passenger for a last minute all-but-strip-search regardless of skin colour, and that is why I was pulled aside



I deplore the racial profiling BUT much more worrying to me as a white person is that American security, like security all over the world, has the right to search your checked bags without you being present ............. and often do that.

I don't know how common searching behind the scenes, without you being present, is in other countries.

We know that they searched OH's bag one time when he was in transit through a big American airport ......... not only did they cut off the lock, but they left a very important document file lying on the carousel where they had searched the bag. Luckily the file was found, BUT OH had not got hi name on it because it was "confidential not for distribution".

Some bright person realised it was connected to a certain airline, so sent it up to the gate. An attendant for that airline guessed that of the 2 people showing as having been in transit from one American airport to Canada was OH ............... and suddenly he hears his name over the tannoy.


Now just think what else might go missing from your luggage.

NEVER pack anything of value in your case!

Purple/Liz - one thing you have to realise is this.

The examples of extreme or poor treatment posted here relate to racial profiling. With the exception of Sylvia, everyone else had a skin colour which wasn't 'white'!

Items confiscated is a different matter. Sometimes it's a 'jobs worth', sometimes our own forgetfulness.

It's a pity that your OH doesn't want to fly - he'll be missing out on a fantastic opportunity.

No wonder my o.h. has gone off flying, if I showed him this he would tear up his passport. His son is trying to persuade him to travel with him to N. York to visit other son/brother. Can't see it happening somehow but o.h. won't admit he is terrified, especially as it's a much longer flight than he's ever done before.

A few years back I had a keyring from my late Mum with a tiny pair of folding scissors attached. I completely forgot to take it from my handbag before checkin so had it confiscated. Had it been later in the day I could have gone to the post office and bought a jiffybag to post it back to myself but it wasn't open. I was sad to lose the keyring and the scissors were so small and fiddly to open, they were hardly a threat.

Lizx

they pay very low wages to the security guys at the airport ................ so guess what you get?!


Joeva ......

He really should have called for a supervisor to be brought, and complained ............. sexual harassment is NOT allowed, and that is what he was getting.

At the very least, he should have got the searcher's name, and then written in to complain about the treatment, if he didn't want to do it right there and then.

A young lad I know went on a business trip to the US just a couple of weeks ago........ he is British born with an Italian mother and his father is from Mauritius....... therefore his skin colour is not white.

I was appalled by the way he was treated by the border controls during his visit ...... one of the questions he was asked having being stopped was ' do you believe in terrorism' ...... how crass is that!

At another point he was stopped and body searched ...... he was wearing tight jeans as the youngsters do ....... and he was made to feel absolutely degraded by the way his crotch was examined by the searcher with the words ' Are you sure that's just your pen@s in there'...... I find that totally disgraceful.....

My neighbour's son (white, Scottish) is married to a woman of Indian ethnic origins, but both she and her parents were all born in Scotland.

His job took him to Seattle for a couple of years. Wife went too, no trouble at all.

They then decided to spend Christmas with friends in Canada. All went well until they tried to go home (to USA) when the US immigration people refused her entry. She went back to their friends and he went back to Seattle to try and sort it out.

No joy. They were adamant. So eventually she flew back to Scotland and then to Seattle (at company expense) and was allowed in with no bother! :-S :-S :-S

US security has always been rather hit and miss as to how efficient and effective it is. TBH, most of the time it is pretty much a joke compared with other countries

I was pulled aside at the Phoenix airport several years ago right at the gate to undergo more intensive search ........... they took every 10th passenger, but I hadn't worked that one out at the time!

I had handed my carry-in bag over to OH just a minute before they waved me behind the screen. Two security people, 1 male 1 female. I was thoroughly patted down by the female, had to hold each foot up in turn so they could look at the soles of my shoes, my handbag was searched, then I was told I could board the plane.

Meanwhile OH had swanned on through the gate and to his seat carrying TWO carry-on bags :-D

My niece Brianna and her friend Mohamed, have real trouble crossing the border. Last year he finally got his Canadian citezenship. But he was still born in Egypt. They were driving to Yellowstone and he was 'dragged' into a room for about 1 hour. Brianna tried to phone home, but she was told (rudely) she couldn't phone her husband, boyfriend, partner. She was just trying to phone her parents to tell them want was going on. Now Mohamed is used to it but Bri still has trouble dealing with it.

Now his parents want him to come home and start taking care of them like a good little boy. He likes it here. They have a room in the house all ready for him, his sisters and their families have already moved in, he is the only boy and the only one that has said NO. :-D

well I warn all of you to avoid Cardiff "International" Airport at all costs!! Full of jobsworth types with no people skills whatsoever - an utter shambles - International - my backside - look at any travel brochure and see how many of them go from Cardiff - virtually none

I sometimes wonder if it's down to who's working the shift.

Son-in-law inadvertantly left a mutliblade penknife in his carry-on. Sailed through outward-bound at Heathrow. It was only spotted and confiscated homeward-bound in Canada.

Our favourite tale about US customs in recent years is when our son flew out to visit his sister. He's British White, nominally Christian. Accompanying him was his friend a Britsh Bangladeshee who happens to be a nominal Muslim (He loves bacon sandwiches!)

At Heathrow, Security took the friend aside and put him through more rigourous checks. He was pulled aside at the aircraft door for the same.
Arriving at San Francisco, he was interviewed for 15 minutes in a private room before being allowed to enter the country.

On the way home, they were both waved through with the standard scrutiny - if the friend had been a security threat, he had as great an opportuinty flying over the US outward bound as he had inward!

That is what we said Det. However it was not like that the last time (about 7 years ago) we left US. I was even asked to open my camera so they could inspect inside. It was a digital camera and I had the devil of a job explaining that it could not be opened.

But our security is strict when we are leaving UK. And there were a lot of American citizens on board our Virgin Atlantic flight.

The last time Concorde visited Exeter Airport, it was parked about twenty/thirty yards from the public road with a bull-wire mesh fence as the only barrier.

I stood outside the fence awaiting its departure. Glad I was wearing ear protectors when the engines were started.

We flew into the US, took ages (more than three hours) to get through passport control etc, and missed our connecting flight.

But our suitcases didn't.

I was shocked, as that was six months after the Lockerbie disaster.

The worst part was getting off the plane and being met by a row of security guards, all holding "nightsticks". Welcome to our country; have a nice day.

You're leaving the country - they aren't worried if you blow up or hijack the plane :-|

US airport security was always very strict. UK airport security is still extremely strict with no liquids etc, belts/watches and sometimes trainers off.

When we got home and unpacked from US this week OH found his second wash bag in his flight bag. (we had had to put our cases into collection storage overnight so had to keep a spare wash bag with us for departure morning. I then put mine into the case when we retrieved them. He didn't. so all his shaving gel tubes, toothpaste, deodorant and razor (not electric) had gone sailing through security at Miami airport. He also kept his belt and watch on and we both had trainers on. I had taken my Ipad out but he was told there was no need. How strange. :-S :-S