Got it. Thanks for the explanation. In retrospect, it's very efficient. The suspect was within the first 30 or so people off the plane. Poor coach people didn't get any of the yeller treatment which F and J got!
Did you ask for compensation?
I'm slightly surprised this questions has yet to be asked.
Yeah, I mean that part is not ideal, but let's face it-- authorities yell; local cops yell, feds yell, troopers yell, TSA...-- yelling is somehow part of it all when giving instructions in cases like this. It would be nice if they didn't, but they do-- and in this lifetime will continue to. Maybe they could give out chocolates at the same time to mitigate.
Maybe in the US they do, but it isn't the same everywhere. In some places, they can act in a manner not to risk causing offence and be polite too
I've certainly experienced arrivals gate checks, but the "yelling" has a purpose...they are trying to communicate to people a few yards back that they should get their passports out and open (so deplaning won't be delayed any more than necessary). In other words I have not seen any "yelling", only loud announcing. The difference is not one of volume, but of tone.
But back to the original post...my reaction was, and sluggo has confirmed from personal knowledge, that FAs have no authority at all to do passport checks. Good thing too, given how increasingly untrained FAs are; you don't want them to decide that they should do cavity searches just for fun.
Maybe in the US they do, but it isn't the same everywhere. In some places, they can act in a manner not to risk causing offence and be polite too
Dave
My Varig LHR-CPH flights routinely had the on-arrival gate-side passport checks. These checks were far more frequent on Varig LHR-CPH than they were on my flights to the US or on my flights intra-EU (including other airlines' flights on this particular ex-Schengen to Schengen route). Still, at CPH I've never witnessed an on arrival gate-side "barking" "welcome party" at CPH like I have in the US.
I have seen ground crew and an FA come up to a reaccomadated pax on an AF plane and ask to see their passport. But that was to get some information for APIS or something.
__________________
Delta SkyMiles, where management treats customers as if they are the enemy or sheep to be fleeced and it shows.
I have not seen this before....
But found this a little 'strange': AA from Dominican Republic to Miami, a Dom.Rep. agent (police, immigration) was inside the plane and was checking every BP and passport. I believed - may be wrongly - the plane was 'US-territory', not under the jurisdiction of Dem.Rep.
The DR to MIA/JFK routes are infamous for families using the old switcheroo - brother w/o visa gets a ticket to say Havana or Panama. Looks similar to the brother with a visa. In the departure lounges they switch, the brother with the visa leaves, saying to passport control he has a family emergency, the one without (with his brother's passport) boards the USA flight and sends the passport home via FedEx or a relative.
DR migration agents board and recheck papers at the door of the aircraft and often come inside to recheck, all the time as a result. Unless you don't look Dominican of course. Then it goes pretty fast.
And being it is simply an aircraft on the ground in the DR they have all the authority they need.
The DR to MIA/JFK routes are infamous for families using the old switcheroo - brother w/o visa gets a ticket to say Havana or Panama. Looks similar to the brother with a visa. In the departure lounges they switch, the brother with the visa leaves, saying to passport control he has a family emergency, the one without (with his brother's passport) boards the USA flight and sends the passport home via FedEx or a relative.
At airports in the Dominican Republic can a passenger who has checked-in leave the departure hall and exit the airport without much fuss? (Some countries' airport personnel have made a big fuss -- including subjecting the passenger to fines-- if the passenger tried to leave the airport after entering the building for checking-in.)
The passport w/visa switcheroo is sort of what US VISIT is designed to stop. Well, the project was sold as stopping terrorists -- doesn't do a whole lot there -- but it does put a bit of break in the passport w/visa-related scam you mention.
DR is one of many countries where such a switcheroo-type scam was rather frequent. And it's a bit more than a coincidence that some immigration officials are, on occassion, interested in marrying entry and exit stamps where possible or even sequencing all of a passport holder's trips.
__________________
Delta SkyMiles, where management treats customers as if they are the enemy or sheep to be fleeced and it shows.
Contrary to popular perception, embassies are still the sovereign territory of the country in which they are located, not of the country whose diplomatic mission is housed there. That is why an office building can host an embassy on some floors and, say, a bank on others.
The reason for the perception is that the Vienna Conventions mean that the local government foreswears the right to enter an embassy. However, it does not change sovereign territory.
Say, for example, that a baby is born in the U.S. Embassy to Ickystan. That child does not gain U.S. citizenship by virtue of birth in the U.S.- it was born in Ickystan.
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, Marriott PLT Premier, HHonors Silver, SPG Gold, Harrahs PLT, Avis First
Posts: 4,401
The barking is uncalled for. I have been on several intra-European flights where the FA announces upon landing to have passports ready for checks on the jetbridge. In all of my cases, these turned out to be random checks, but I did have my passport within easy reach in case they asked me.
I don't care how much they check the passports, it still might not be enough. And I really don't care if they racially profile the paxs. If they wear a turbin, check them twice, if they are from the middle east Xray their whole body and take everything away from them. This day and time, you can not be too careful and if they don't like it, they can fly a NON US airline! I'd rather be racially profiled and checked and rechecked than to be a name on a tombstone.
I don't care how much they check the passports, it still might not be enough. And I really don't care if they racially profile the paxs. If they wear a turbin, check them twice, if they are from the middle east Xray their whole body and take everything away from them. This day and time, you can not be too careful and if they don't like it, they can fly a NON US airline! I'd rather be racially profiled and checked and rechecked than to be a name on a tombstone.
I'm sure many of the immigration officials around the world feel the same way about fat ole country boys wearing get er done t-shirts, sweat pants, and flip flops. I can think of few things more dangerous than an ignorant, over-zealous moron.
Location: Dallas,TX - AA EXP, HH DIA, Marriott PLT,SPG PLT
Posts: 64
?
Quote:
Originally Posted by drbond
I don't care how much they check the passports, it still might not be enough. And I really don't care if they racially profile the paxs. If they wear a turbin, check them twice, if they are from the middle east Xray their whole body and take everything away from them. This day and time, you can not be too careful and if they don't like it, they can fly a NON US airline! I'd rather be racially profiled and checked and rechecked than to be a name on a tombstone.
ROTFLOL 
