ralfp

According to this article: http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/...216/index.html
arriving international pax in ATL must pass through security after immigration & customs, as the only exit is through the secure area of terminal E.

What happens if you refuse to be screened and say "I don't want to fly today." Has anyone tried this?

Read on only if you're bored...
Since the TSA checkpoints are "voluntary" searches, they can be refused, as long as you do it before the search begins, right? In United States v. Davis the 9th Circuit Court held that the searches are allowed as long as "potential passengers may avoid the search by electing not to fly." Does that apply here? Is the TSA search the same as the search on foreign soil? Have you already consented to the search by flying?

In United States v. Doran the 9th Circuit held that "we cannot accept the government’s argument that a passenger in a secured boarding area may not, as a general proposition, leave theare a rather than submit to additional searches." I don't see how the TSA could force a search, or at least how evidence gained in such a seach could be used in court.

IANAL.

studentff

In theory, upon such a refusal, ATL should provide some combination of law-enforcement, TSA, or airport employees to escort the passenger out of the airport.

In reality, TSA and the police would probably attempt to intimidate the passenger into accepting the screening via various threats and such.

A similar situation occurs when TSA decides to "reverse screen" ariving passengers because of a terminal dump at their departing airport. There have been sporadic reports that non-connecting passengers refusing the reverse screening have been escorted out of the airport after enduring varying degrees of threats/intimidation.

goaliemn

What happens if you have some evil duty free alcohol from your departure point and aren't flying on. Will they escort you and your dangerous liquid out into the un-secured area?

OrlandoFlyer

This is very good question. I suspect that we will not get any good answers until someone tries it, and then the TSA/Police will keep it as quiet as possible as they will not want passengers doing this.

renalt130

You put your luggage on a belt after you pass throug customs/immigration and the bags a transported to the baggage pick-up area in the main terminal. They'd probably just put your alcohol on that belt.

ralfp

Somebody please try this (refuse the screening) and report back. Even better would be if 100 people refused at the same time.

Some questions for anyone that's been there: I would guess that the TSA doesn't require a boarding pass to go through security there, right? No ID also, right? OTOH, given the TSA's insane rules, it wouldn't surprise me if they required a boarding pass & ID.

How far is it from the screening area to the exit? It seems quite far.

SNA_Flyer

I seem to recall MEM pulling this BS when I was flying back from AMS one time. I had to get re-screened even though I was exiting the terminal.

MCO looks like they pull this too, they have a TSA screening area just by the tram boarding area.

If I had some time on my hands, I'd refuse to be screened and see what happened.

ralfp

I would too... I only ask this of others because I don't, and won't in the near future, fly through ATL or any other airport that does this (do any?). My other half, who will be flying internationally through ATL within the next month... well I won't even try to ask.

The smart thing to do (other than not refusing, which would not be any fun) would be to put all carry on bags in checked luggage before trying this. The fun thing to do would be to put all ID in checked luggage.

Gargoyle

I got hassled there once- I'd been rerouted through ATL out of CDG on an ir-op, and had a hand-written ticket (coupon?) out from AF for the connection; they didn't like that at all, insisted on also seeing the original routing BP's to see that I was "legit".

Mats

This has long been a source of great bafflement to me. WHY do we waste all of this time and money screening people who aren't flying anywhere?

These insane airports include:

Atlanta
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Memphis
Orlando

I remember being particularly frustrated at CVG. I'd just flown 8-9 hours from Europe, waited to claim my bags, waited for customs, waited for immigration, dodged the agriculture inspector... only to wait in line 45 minutes for the TSA. But I was only going to my car!

The problem is that passengers often seemed to view this as a necessary part of customs and immigration. Everyone else in the line imagined that this was just a requirement to enter the US.

Few people have spoken up because few realize that this is crazy, inefficient, etc.

renalt130

It all really comes down to the layout of the airport. In ATL there is no way to get the international passengers to the main terminal without having to mingle with everybody else.

Back in the good old days all international flights left from the T gates and getting in and out was sooooo easy.

tlhanger

Not sure I understand the question, but I had wine packed in my luggage on our flight home from Italy and I had no trouble at all coming back through ATL.

Gargoyle

Checked or carry-on? If it was checked, it shouldn't be any problem.

BTW, which wine and vintage? (let us know if you need help disposing of the contents)

viking407rob

I imagine anyone refusing the search would likely be "profiled" for future purposes. I'm sure they would document the fact that the passenger refused. Anyone who understands and excercises their rights is automatically viewed as some kind of threat. In TSA's suspicious minds they view the desire for privacy as an attempt to hide something. They prefer for people to be ignorant so they can easily by-pass their rights. At the same time, they use intimidation tactics to scare the few who do understand their rights. Sadly, it is very effective, as most of us will and do just go through the extra screening B.S. In most cases it's easier to submit to it unless, of course, they want to do a secondary screening which involves latex and cavity searches.

ralfp

That is a terrible reason. If searches can be justified by this, then it gives the gov't motivation to design structures to maximize their chances of searching people because "there is no other way."

If people do not protest then the gov't and the morons who designed ATL will have no motivation to change things. I can only assume that the people who designed ATL never thought that people from Atlanta would actually fly to ATL, that all pax were connecting.