Originally Posted by
Hilmar Lehnert
Last week I was checking in for FRA->IAD when I encountered an extra officer at the entrance to the check in area (all lanes). They started to ask me question. Not the standard "have your bags been with you, etc." type of stuff but they went fairly deeply into "where are you coming from? what did you do there? how long did you stay?" which tend to be more CBP like question. I wasn't in the mood for it, so I started pushing back. It went something like this:
Me: "If you don't mind me asking: who are you and why are you asking me these questions?'
Them: "We work with the TSA"
Me: "So are you an employee of the Department of Homeland Security?"
Them: "We are helping out with safety" (or some other non-committal nonsense)
Me: "Are you an employee of the Department of Homeland Security?"
Them: "Well, yes, we work with them"
Me: "So you are an actual an employee of the Department of Homeland Security?"
Them: "Well, no, but we are working for them, have a nice flight"
At that point they waived me through, clearly uncomfortable with my line of questioning. I fly US<->Europe fairly frequently but the only other time I've encountered this was maybe two years ago in Brussels. At that time I was too surprised to push back, but it did prepare me for last week's interaction.
What the heck is this all about? Has anyone else encountered that recently? It seems weird and also somewhat futile: After all, I was able to push my way through them without actually answering any of the questions that they were trying to ask.
As annoying as this is, the kind of questions you got asked happens often enough, and I've seen all kinds of people being subjected to it when boarding US-bound flights. It is a case of the US (shoddily and inadequately) outsourcing some of their work to foreign airports.
If it helps put things in perspective, lots of people, especially those of color and those with other (less valued) passports, routinely face much worse treatment at borders. I've had many far worse run-ins, particularly at FRA (although it has happened at other European airports too) for decades, including being singled out for questioning on the aerobridge when getting off planes from business class exits, being sent for secondary questioning, being asked to prove that I had legitimate business at my point of origin and my destination. And when I protested, unlike you, I was sent for additional, time-wasting checks. I've sent many angry letters to their immigration control managers for what is clearly racial profiling (of course nothing ever came of them). For years I hated the idea of ever entering Germany. It was one of the last European countries I visited, and thankfully the general populace in Germany is far better than their airport officials. A change of passport & age have made things a lot better for me, but I still see lots of people at various airports being treated with utter disrespect.