GUWonder

Welcome as that is, that article and its topic is not news to me. As good a job as Bot has done so far, there is still a ways to go; and he won't get into all of it.

There is more than one safe harbor item that undermines the privacy of free persons in the EU.

FateSucks

I hate the more air marshals part, especially if they are from the US!


They have a really bad habit of taking seats from innocent passengers who made those reservations MONTHS AGO and airlines just act like sheep and follow their orders all while, at times, not compensating the affected passengers!

If they are going to arrive in the plane, make those reservations well in advance or the airline NOT sell those seats so it will not affect passengers making those seat reservations from shock for being informed of not being given to them hours before boarding their flight!


It is going to suck that they are going to put more of those goons in foreign airlines and having my reserve seat possibly compromised (has not happened to me yet, but to some of my friends....it has and one was force to take a later plane because they "overbook" him) !

cestmoi123

The Peruvian tourist industry might have a teensy objection to that strategy.

WilcoRoger

The logic of VWP and FAM is flimsy at best.

VWP eligible citizens may very well arrive from non-VWP countries to the US and also VWP countries might not have flights to the US.

The implied worry is that VWP countries are somehow more dangerous for air travel, hence the need for more FAMs. So flights ex-FRA need (more?) FAMs but not ex-WAW.

I fail to see the connection.

DanishFlyer

This one

* Required use of the INTERPOL Lost and Stolen Passport Database to screen travelers crossing a Visa Waiver country’s borders,

Is not possible for Shengen countries to fulfill - we don't have any passport control on internal borders (at least normally), so how to check against Interpol's database?

DanishFlyer

cestmoi123

I presume that Shengen gets treated as one country for the purposes of this...

GUWonder

cestmoi123, that presumption doesn't hold up -- protest as the EU/EEA may --as it's meant to be bilateral on the national to national level, including with what I indicated previously and below:

US announces changes to the VWP:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25791545-post9.html

All to do exactly what I indicated in the first paragraph in the above quote.

GUWonder

The US sees VWP-using flight passengers as being less thoroughly reviewed by USG employees than US visa-using flight passengers.

exerda

I also think that it wouldn't bother the average American much at all if foreign governments made it hard to travel there for US citizens. Because the average American doesn't travel abroad. Sigh.

I for one hate the tit-for-tat (such as w/r/t ridiculous visa fees, fingerprinting everyone, etc.), as in the end it only helps the two governments and hurts travelers.

GUWonder

Yes, that is what I would say too.

Unfortunately, too many people see global travel as a privilege for "the other" rather than as a natural right deserving protection and minimal encumberance in the absence of extenuating circumstances. This hostility to international travel is showing up again in the form of a pending legal change to revoke/deny passports of even more Americans.

FateSucks

When airport staff swiped your passport, do they see the countries and times you have visited other countries?

Apparently, my passport was redflagged by the ticket agent when boarding my Icelandic plane from Boston. She made a comment that I travel quite frequently (only once and maybe twice a year, so what?). They did NOT strip me but TSA felt it was "necessary" to pat my legs and arms after going through that x-ray machine even though it says I have nothing on me....and I felt eyes following me everywhere even after passing through security.

They thoroughly checked my checked luggage before it got into the plane...the reason?

A solo male with questionable "origins" (questionable as in, they cannot figure out my ethnicity just by my appearance, even though my name is a dead give away what it is) who travels frequently (none of them being Middle Eastern countries).

I really not enjoying this racial/ethnic profiling being allowed in my own country, especially when one is NOT going to a hostile country.

GUWonder

Generally, not. Although they more generally can see the other flights you've taken on the same ticket/ticketed PNR.

Your boarding pass hit by a haraSSSSment screening flag? A lot of that is automated, but manual selection for haraSSSSment screening is also sometimes part of the picture.

All free Americans being treated equally is not part of the American flying experience, not even when dealing with our own government. Animal Farm comes to mind.

Section 107

for what purpose should some of us not be more equal than the others?

GUWonder

With regard to the USG choosing to make some free Americans haraSSSSment targets without regard to due process rights of such free Americans.

GUWonder

The US demands for being in the US VWP have gotten even more egregious, as agreeing to FAMs or the like is only part of what is being demanded now by the USG::