"Did you pack this yourself"- What happens if you say no?
Jul 22, 2015, 10:03 pm
#31
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Aug 4, 2015, 2:36 am
#32
Join Date: Apr 2013
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If you say you did not pack your bags then if they find something you haven't delceared then ignorance can be called upon (perhaps unsuccessfully) as a defence.
If you say you packed them, and there is a pound of pork sausages then you've also lied, and more likely to be fined.
Aug 4, 2015, 4:06 am
#34
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Before a work ski trip, in a previous company we opened up the bosses bag and filled it with as much stuff that we could lay our hands on... He did not notice until he got to his Hotel.
Aug 5, 2015, 3:51 am
#35
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 288
The questions aren't expected to stop anyone, the point is to get all passengers to make a statement concerning their control of their own baggage so that if, for example, an IED were to be found, it would be more difficult for the traveller to avoid a conviction by claiming they had no idea how the device got there or to state that someone must have slipped it at some point where the bag was out of the passengers control.
Aug 24, 2015, 4:08 pm
#37
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Gosh this brings me back to the days of Pre 9-11 when at the checkin counter they would ask you" Did you pack your bags on your own" Did anyone ask you to carry anything for them?" Have your bags been in your possession at all times?
Aug 24, 2015, 4:26 pm
#38
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To the question "have your bags been in your possessoon the whole time" I have answered no when I have had the Bell Desk pick up my bags. Also, last trip to Vegas I checked my bags to the airline at the hotel. Bags taken away not to be seen until arrival at final destination. Must be trusted shippers or such.
Last edited by Boggie Dog; Aug 24, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Aug 24, 2015, 4:42 pm
#39
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: New York City
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I think at IAD at United checkin I was asked the question whether my checked bag had been out of my possession since being packed. I honestly responded that I'd checked it in my hotel for the day. I was surprised that they made me open the bag and made me confirm that it was the same way I'd left it in the morning. No actual search of the bag. Only time that's ever happened to me.
Aug 25, 2015, 6:04 pm
#40
Join Date: May 2005
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But does anyone else remember flying shortly after the Lockerbie bombing? I flew out of Gatwick a month after that, and it was 20 Questions at the check-in desk. These days if I have checked baggage I often give it to the curbside folks and they're more interested in the size of the tip than the contents of your suitcase.
Last edited by CDTraveler; Sep 5, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Sep 5, 2015, 3:19 pm
#41
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One of the few positive changes TSA made after 9/11 was removing the "Did you pack your bags yourself?" & "Have your bags been out of your possession?" ticket counter agent questions stateside.
I still remember traveling with my mother as a child pre-9/11 after a cruise when she answered the question honestly no one knew what to do. The ticket agent at the next desk was telling our ticket agent just to refuse our baggage. At least in the end a supervisor later just had my mother search our bags and then accepted them. The whole affair took half an hour and this was in MIA which has a large share of cruise customers.
I have only been to TLV once, the security agent phrase the question as "Did you pack your bags yourself, and have your bags been out of your possession? The reason I ask is that our concern is that someone could have concealed explosives in your luggage." I personalty think the agent was just tring to see if I had any reactions to the word "explosive".
I still remember traveling with my mother as a child pre-9/11 after a cruise when she answered the question honestly no one knew what to do. The ticket agent at the next desk was telling our ticket agent just to refuse our baggage. At least in the end a supervisor later just had my mother search our bags and then accepted them. The whole affair took half an hour and this was in MIA which has a large share of cruise customers.
I have only been to TLV once, the security agent phrase the question as "Did you pack your bags yourself, and have your bags been out of your possession? The reason I ask is that our concern is that someone could have concealed explosives in your luggage." I personalty think the agent was just tring to see if I had any reactions to the word "explosive".
Sep 12, 2015, 8:38 pm
#43
Join Date: Sep 2015
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I have only been to TLV once, the security agent phrase the question as "Did you pack your bags yourself, and have your bags been out of your possession? The reason I ask is that our concern is that someone could have concealed explosives in your luggage." I personalty think the agent was just tring to see if I had any reactions to the word "explosive".
) but now I see why.
Sep 16, 2015, 4:08 am
#44
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To interdict contraband WEIs can be done -- and has been done many a time -- without asking questions in the hopes of getting an honest answer (from the passenger/transporting party) or of detecting the (passenger's/transporting party's) deliberate communication of a falsehood.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 16, 2015 at 4:24 am
Sep 16, 2015, 5:06 pm
#45
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Arizona, USA
Posts: 2,403
In Israel, they always say something like, "I ask you this question because there have been cases in which someone was carrying a bomb..." Or they will ask, "Do you know why I am asking you this question?"
One of my snarkier friends once said, "No, I have no idea."
She's charming enough, and Israelis have a certain patience for sarcasm at the airport, so she wasn't hassled.
The ICTS/FIS etc. contract agents often ask the questions so quickly and carelessly that it would almost be hard to answer in a way that would arouse suspicion. They also tend to ask "yes" or "no" questions rather than the free-form responses expected in Israel.
In the case of Lockerbie, the Pan Am "Alert" agents did not speak enough English to understand passengers' responses to their questions. And it was reported in Rodney Wallis' book on the subject that they didn't even know what a selectee was. They just picked people at random.
Prior to 2001, the US had all kinds of absurd systems, like answering "yes" or "no" questions on check-in kiosks, or pointing "yes" or "no" on laminated placards. I cannot fathom how that had anything to do with security. It was a crazy law implemented after TWA 800, which--of course--was not related to terrorism. I am glad that the US finally got rid of that silly requirement. I do think that BA still asks in the United States, but it's been a while since I've flown them. Otherwise, it's only El Al for flights leaving the US.
Indeed I remember the incredibly tight security in London after Lockerbie. I was flying from Gatwick to Newark, and I remember stern, extensive, and intimidating questions.
One of my snarkier friends once said, "No, I have no idea."
She's charming enough, and Israelis have a certain patience for sarcasm at the airport, so she wasn't hassled.
The ICTS/FIS etc. contract agents often ask the questions so quickly and carelessly that it would almost be hard to answer in a way that would arouse suspicion. They also tend to ask "yes" or "no" questions rather than the free-form responses expected in Israel.
In the case of Lockerbie, the Pan Am "Alert" agents did not speak enough English to understand passengers' responses to their questions. And it was reported in Rodney Wallis' book on the subject that they didn't even know what a selectee was. They just picked people at random.
Prior to 2001, the US had all kinds of absurd systems, like answering "yes" or "no" questions on check-in kiosks, or pointing "yes" or "no" on laminated placards. I cannot fathom how that had anything to do with security. It was a crazy law implemented after TWA 800, which--of course--was not related to terrorism. I am glad that the US finally got rid of that silly requirement. I do think that BA still asks in the United States, but it's been a while since I've flown them. Otherwise, it's only El Al for flights leaving the US.
Indeed I remember the incredibly tight security in London after Lockerbie. I was flying from Gatwick to Newark, and I remember stern, extensive, and intimidating questions.