swiftaw

I know this is a very old thread, but I had a question very much related to the topic so it seemed better to post here that create a new one.

I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?

TWA884

@swiftaw, I moved your question to a newer thread discussing the security stickers.

TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

GUWonder

The staff at the continental European gateway to the US will do this process, if applicable; and in your case it would be at FRA (if anywhere). At or near the boarding gate area is where this takes place at FRA for most FRA transit passengers.

mnbp

The stickers are local to the airport that issued them, so once you depart that airport, stickers no longer have any meaning. The sticker is shorthand for the gate agent to know that you've been interviewed - at that airport. The agents at the airport don't care what might have happened at a prior airport.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Recently when departing LHR for a return trip to the US, having no checked luggage and an electronic boarding pass I was going to head to the gate. But I decided to ask if my passport needed to checked first. I was told I needed to pass through the "security" check first then go to the counter. The "security" check where they ask about your bags and put a silly sticker on the back of your passport before going to counter. The person at the counter said to do passport check at the gate.

I passed through the normal security and while in the lounge had my passport checked. I was told the check was not needed and I was set. When I got to the gate I showed my passport and BP. Where upon looking at the sticker I was "selected" for additional screening. The screening was joke.

Afterwards I got to thinking. In hindsight, as my passport did not need to be checked there was no real reason for me to go through the initial "security" check first thus no silly sticker. So wondering has anyone ever not had the passport "security" sticker when they got to the gate? What happened???

GUWonder

Some of us do at times get to the US airlines’ departure gates at some European airports without having encountered the airline’s employees and security contractors until getting to (or close to) the gate area for departure. Many times they have had security contractors there to catch someone like me and go through the same process of questioning and stickers on passports as would have happened if I had instead first checked in in-person with the airline land-side at the airport and/or at a transfer desk for the airline and dealt with the security contractors there instead of by the gates.

Skipping the check-in desks and/or transfer desks on my Europe-US trips is not a reliable way to avoid a secondary search at the gate areas for flights where the sticker on passport OBC is part of the process. Whether they choose to apply the sticker or not at around that “late” point, it doesn’t really change anything.

COF

I notice that I've got 5 small "ICTS" and "Swissport" stickers on the back of my passport each scribbled with some sort of code of digits and letters. No one else I know seems to have these on their passports. I've googled it and couldn't find a clear answer, it all seems a bit "smoke and mirrors" if I'm honest.

percysmith

No check from NRT (JL)
No check from LHR T5 C gates (BA)
Check from SYD (QF) by Certis (stuck a sticker inside the passport)

miamiflyer8

ICTS is a privately owned airport security company and Swissport (not exactly the best agents IME) is a ground handling company which seems to also have security services. Basically, it varies by airline and/or security contractor.

I've had ICTS usually write the day's date and the officer's intials indicating that I've been asked the (stupid) security questions and had my documents checked. Sometimes the sticker indicates what immigration status you're traveling on.

TK's security contractor Gözen at IST who loves stamps and stickers for US flights put one sticker with the agents initials and the date of my flight, another identical sticker with "ARC" on it meaning "Alien Resident Card" a term used for Green Card that US CBP will write on the (these days rare) entry stamp. A third blue sticker with no space to write on was stuck next to the two others, unclear what that meant. When I got to the enclosed gate armed with my stickers, my travel docs were checked again and I was let into the holding pen before boarding. BP was stamped with a blue ink stamp and something random was scribbled. After that check a fourth sticker, similar to the blue one was glued to the back of the stub of my boarding pass. I'm now thinking is this really necessary?

Many airlines, usually non-US do not care about such arrangements.

Took NH on Monday HND-JFK and it almost felt like I wasn't going to the US. No questions at check in or gate, the gate itself wasn't shielded from the rest of the terminal nor were docs checked that well during boarding.