lurcher

Flew ROM-MAD-DFW, first segment on Iberia (less than impressed)

Get to Madrid, do the transfer shuffle (PITA) and shuffle around to find AA resource (signage sucks!). Finally find it - having a sign that says "connecting flights (arrow pointing left)" only on the right side of one of two corridors, without telling me anything else is useless. How am I supposed to know I MUST recheck when I have tickets for my next segment? Think the sign should say something like "All connecting passengers must recheck here?"

So off my soapbox and to the real question: Whats with all of the security questions at the "recheck" location as well as the actual gate by AA personnel? Playing 20 questions twice on the secure side of the concourse just pissed me off more than anything....

The Iberia lounge was very nice and well stocked/cleaned

sts603

The signage is indeed bad. But no objection to the questions. We live in a dangerous world. How many attempts against TATL airliners have there been again since 9/11? Shoe bomber. Underwear bomber. Liquid plot. And several other credible threats of people trying to build bombs.

brp

Not sure why you're referring to "other" credible threats after the ones you've listed, none of which were.

Cheers.

Spiff

Much of what you've typed is not credible, nor will playing stupid question games alleviate such concerns.

PresRDC

The gate numbering system in MAD T4S is confusing. Why not have one number for each gate? Why the letter before the gate number? Makes no sense.

The IB lounge in T4S is my favorite Business Class lounge in Oneworld. Great food choices.

Spiff

Good napping area too.

hillrider

This is a DHS requirement, not an AA one.

I am sure there's an area in FT discussing DHS/TSA "security" requirements where this thread should be moved to, with an updated thread title.

kcaluwae

It's indeed a DHS requirements and not AA's. I appreciate that effort is being made to increase the security but I do agree with Spiff. These questions will not solve the problem I'm afraid.

Fitch7600

While I am dubious about a lot of the questions asked and their effectiveness, I have to agree with sts603's points. In the case of the underwear bomber, he boarded in (I think) Ghana, which as I recall had some lax security. You know, kind of like how a number of the 911 high-jackers drove to Portland Maine to clear security there instead on in Boston. Under those circumstances you can understand why an airport might want additional screening for connecting passengers. And while the guy didn't bring down the plane, he did manage to light part of the plane (and himself) on fire though the main explosive didn't blow. I doubt anyone on that flight would regarded him as not credible.

As for the shoe guy, the bomb fizzled because moisture got in the show. Moisture got in the shoe because those very security questions blocked him from flying for a day. It's pretty fair to say the system isn't perfect because he managed to get on the plane the next day.

I would also argue that those plots were not only credible, but partially successful. The goal of terrorism isn't to kill, it's to terrorize and disrupt. The planes didn't go down but it led to bad press for aviation, more people not traveling, and billions more of borrowed dollars spent on security and the military.

JDiver

As this issue / thread is not related to a particular airline (or even a particular airport), but rather USDHS policy for security (passengers departing for the USA), it has been retitled and moved to the appropriate forum.

JDiver, Senior Moderator

halls120

Only the most stupid terrorist in the world would be deterred by the inane and useless questions asked of passengers enroute to the US. Just more security theatre set up to control and appease a gullible public.

Wally Bird

Quite. While OP doesn't say what the questions were, I'm sure there were banal and pointless except for the alleged ability of the interrogator to elicit microexpressions .

I don't think "are you a terrorist?" would be one of them, and not likely to receive an truthful answer anyway .

javabytes

Nonsense. Somehow millions of Americans manage to go about their daily routines without the help of the [screeners]. We board trains, buses. Drive cars and trucks. We go to the supermarket, to the mall, etc. Why on earth we think planes are any different is beyond me.

Truth #1: There are always bad people out there who want to do bad things. They will generally succeed if they are determined. Truth #2: The number of such people is extraordinarily small.

These people do a disproportionate amount of damage through the manner in which we react to them... which dare I say is far greater than the threat they ever posed.

cbn42

Notice how the responses on this thread went from "the questioning is needed to ensure security" to "the questioning is useless" as soon as the thread was moved from the airline forum to the security forum. I wonder why there is such a difference in attitude on different parts of Flyertalk.

Pesky Monkey

Cause it got moved from the sheeple to the critical thinkers.