mywanderlust

Which foreign airports treat flights to the US with fair and equal security procedures as they would treat flights to any other country? (No extra checks at the gate, no drink ban, etc? Just the same standards for any international/ non-Schengen flight.) I read that US carriers have to use certain security procedures, but what about non-US carriers going to the US?

sbrower

Depends what you mean. Every carrier must comply with the US rules for early provision of passenger list, ban on people on the no-fly list, etc. So, to my understanding, there isn't any airline or any airport where they apply the "same fair and equal" security.

redadeco

Madrid for sure, I tried it 3 times in the past year, no special security procedures apart from the usual questionnaire at check-in (standard when flying with US carriers), not applicable when flying IB for instance.

LtKernelPanic

Nothing extra when flying back from Cancun on AA last November.

bpe

Is the drinks ban still a rule? I don't remember any enforcement or even announcements flying UA from HND last year.
I don't remember any 'extra' rules being enforced at all when flying on non-US carriers in the past few years (NH, KE, and JL at least).

reclusive46

I don't think flights from Canada have anything extra.

flyingmango

Saigon Ton Son Nhat has security at the gate for United. Usually just a quick look in your carry on bag, with a 'thank you' and taking no more than a few seconds. A month ago I had a bottle of water and the officer said 'be sure to drink before you get on the plane', smiled and waved me on.

Mats

Flights from Canada do have extra security, it's just harder to distinguish from the TSA.

Domestic flights within Canada and departures to destinations outside of the USA are not subject to shoe removal, among other restrictions. "Transborder" departures have separate checkpoints with shoe removal, etc. These flights therefore arrive "clean" in the US, and there is no need to re-clear security.

In addition, flights from Canada to the US have a selectee requirement: a certain percentage of passengers must undergo secondary security searches regardless of Global Entry / Nexus status. You are therefore more likely to get an SSSS on a Canada-US flight.

catandmouse

I don't remember going through extra security on any flights I took to the USA over the last few years.

exerda

In the not-too-distant past, flights to the US often had segregated gate areas from other parts of the concourse, with additional screening needed to enter those gate areas. I think that may be what the OP means.

I haven't encountered that at all in my past 3-4 years of international travel, FWIW. Yes, there are still often re-screenings needed to go, say, from intra-Schengen area flights to international ones (and v-v), but I don't recall any more of the singling out of US-bound flights.

Mats

There is wide variation among airports and airlines.

In most European, African, and South American Airports, flights operated by US carriers are required to do the following:
1. Interview prior to check-in; in some instances, there can be checked baggage inspection prior to check-in.
2. Interview prior to boarding
3. Gate screening

The gate screening can be:
1. Hand luggage inspection, all passengers
2. Hand luggage inspection and frisking, all passengers
3. Hand luggage inspection, pre-determined selectees
4. Hand luggage inspection and frisking, pre-determined selectees
5. Hand luggage inspection, random/continuous

There are certain variations:
For Delta flights departing from Amsterdam/Schipol, all of the interviews are conducted at a special "interview station."

For many flights from Asian destinations, Mexico, and Central America, there are inspections prior to boarding but no interviews.

Some non-US carriers use these methods as well (Air France and Turkish Airlines come to mind in my own travels.)

catocony

I flew Austrian last week, VIE-IAD, and had no interview or gate baggage inspection. Just regular airport security after outbound Immigration.

I checked in on-line, so the only time I dealt with anyone at Austrian was at the Senator Lounge and at the gate, where they checked my boarding pass to get me into the status/business seating area at the gate.

cleareddirectfluky

Flew JetBlue from Santo Domingo to JFK 2 weeks ago.nothing out of the ordinary. Shoe removal at checkpoint but everyone had to remove shoes regardless of destination. Security staff pleasant and passed formalities in about 10 minutes.

FliesWay2Much

My experience at VIE as well. Unfortunately, I can't fly Austrian any longer, so I have to take BA through LHR.

redadeco

Let's get straight to the point: it doesn't matter what international airport you're flying from, it's about the airline. If flying on US carriers from international destinations, then there will be extra security (questionnaire when checking bags and/or re-screening at the departure gate).
Flying into the US on foreign carriers doesn't require going through additional security procedures.