DillMan

So recently I flew SJU (San Juan, PR) to DFW on AA. I was in the 2nd row of F, but since my bags were a couple rows back, I ended up being one of the last people out of F. As I exited the aircraft, I noted the GA frantically yelling in to her radio about some problem with the wheelchairs waiting at the gate. It looked like she was having a pretty bad day. Little did she know....

My SO and I proceed to follow our fellow PAX up to the end of the jetbridge. Our flight just happened to arrive in terminal D at DFW, which is the main international terminal for AA and all the other international carriers at DFW. For some reason, the traffic we were following did not exit in to the terminal, rather the door to the hallways leading to immigration were open. The first F PAX off the plane were just getting off the escalators and merging with the other international PAX when we came around the corner.

Since I finished 1st grade, I know that PR is part of the US and one does not have to clear immigration when returning to the continental US. I reversed course and tried to exit in to the terminal but the terminal door was locked. About this time, our stressed GA came out of the jetbridge and, for lack of a better description, had a mental breakdown, and then took off shouting at the other F PAX to come back.

Now this was around 4pm CST. There were a lot of other flights dumping TRUE international PAX in to that maze of hallways leading to the immigration hall. Her solution was to shout "All San Juan customers come back to the gate!!!!" as loud as she could. Of the 15-20 other F PAX ahead of us, maybe 10 returned. She then had everyone push their respective ways back in to the jetbridge, which with a fully deplaning 757 after a 5hr15min flight behind you is no mean feat. Once most of us were back, she closed the door to immigration, which released the door to the terminal and we were on our way.

Now, I hate DHS as much as anyone else and I'm fairly accustomed to their stupidity, but I'm speechless at the lack of physical security here. From talking to the other F PAX, it appears that the first F PAX to reach the top of the jetbridge pushed open the wrong door and -- just like that -- he was in the immigration area. When we returned to the jetbridge she made no effort whatsoever to check that we were all San Juan PAX . Anyone could have joined our party from any flight and gained access not only to the US without passing immigration but also the terminal without clearing TSA security.

I know some will say that since we pre-clear all inbound international PAX, anyone naughty would be caught before they took off. Bull-hookey. If that system worked so well, we would have the Christmas Day NW flight or the need for immigration state-side at all, would we?

Others will say the PAX were screened at their departure point, therefore dumping someone from a BA flight in to the sterile area wouldn't be so bad. Again, if that is the case, why are we forced to re-clear security after any international flight?

I'm not posting this as a way of advocating tighter security. If anything, I feel the intrusion current security measures make in to our life is not worth the potential for protection against a threat as small as terrorism. My point is that the people running the show at DFW and their superiors are so stupid that they will allow a situation where an untrained GA working a domestic flight can recall people from immigration on her own without any oversight by anyone from DHS.

I've worked in the DataCenter business for years and from the limited knowledge I have of physical security it seems to me that before they spend billions of dollars on body scanners, they could install something that would require central approval (like a remotely operated magnetic lock) before admitting passengers to the quarantined immigration area. At a minimum they could install a key-controlled alarm, thereby forcing the GA to manually open that particular door.

If the terrorists are as resourceful as DHS tries to scare us all in to believing, how hard would it be for someone flying to the US with naughty intentions or, worse, with naughty materials on them, to coordinate to have a couple dozen of his terrorist buddies arrive about the same time as his international flight on domestic flights, be the first people out of F, and open the door to immigration, thereby allowing him to backtrack in to the terminal without even a TSA screening? The hallways leading to immigration are packed at that time of day and even if he had to mill around a bit before all the factors lined up in to his favor (one of his buddies arriving at the right time, being the first PAX off the plane, and deplaning in to D), he would simply blend in with all the families changing diapers and people stopping at the restroom after long overwater flights.

Again, I'm not saying I actually worry about the above scenario, but if we are supposed to believe that someone is going to blow up my next flight with Crest and Evian, then it seems far easier to just sneak in to the terminal as outlined above. If anything, this is just another example of the seemingly ubiquitous incompetence within DHS.

yyzvoyageur

Things like this happen frequently and not just at DFW. Here is one story. I was in the physical security industry for years and continue to be surprised by the poor physical security at large international airports.

Maxwell Smart

Although certain countries and certain airports have more stringent policies, the general reason for re-clearing security after an international flight is that usually you have gone through baggage claim/customs and therefore since you've had access to checked baggage, they have to ensure you haven't put something into a carryon that is prohibited in carry-on but okay in checked luggage.

In some countries (not the US) if you're an international-to-international transit passenger and do not pass through baggage claim, you may not be subject to re-clearing security if you never leave the sterile area.

And this has been in place long before DHS/TSA ever existed.

ESpen36

One of the most interesting examples of this was at MAD recently. The gates in T4S (the non-Schengen terminal) are in pairs, so the jetbridges converge on a single point from which pax can be directed either upstairs to passport control or straight ahead into the terminal.

On this particular day, our boarding gate was also being used by an arriving international flight. Instead of delaying boarding of our departure, the agents propped the doors to both gates open, and allowed the lines of departing and arriving passengers to cross (alternating on a perpendicular angle) so that the departing folks would pass through the line of arriving pax. I was marveling at what a serious breach of security it must have been! Any arriving passenger easily could have passed an item to a departing passenger instead of bringing it into the EU, or vice versa.

I guess the agents were more worried about getting the flight out on time.

clrankin

They had their priorities straight and knew what was more important.

LuvsParis

What's interesting is that nearly all airport employees know all of this, and use their insider knowledge in all kinds of interesting (naughty) ways.

Koby

Relax... you were not about to die...

I suppose that those arriving passengers had been screened somewhere before their flight?
And I don’t think that any potential bad guy would fly around the world with “an item” hoping that somewhere, at some point, the gate agents of his arriving flight mix him with the passengers of a departing flight (which happens to be by coincidence the flight of one of his partners in crime).


+1 ^

PhlyingRPh

There actually used to be an excellent way to bypass INS and Customs altogether when arriving on an international flight at one airport. I won't name the airport or when this was possible, but I can tell you it involved choosing to take an elevator after deplaning down to a small inspection area. The elevator had two doors, one of which opened into a service corridor where there was another elevator across the hall, which when taken in an upward direction brought one right into the middle of a domestic concourse.

The part that will scare all the ninnies is that it was foreign students from Arab countries (and Norway) that discovered and propagated this information amongst themselves during the mass return from a Winter holiday break. Even better, little loophole lasted at least two months and served as the ultimate EZ entry process (providing one didn't have any checked baggage of course).