txp

Well, I completely agree with that. And I would add to allow pilots to carry guns and to have more air marshals.

RadioGirl

Arrgh, everyone else is making the same points while I'm writing long replies!

Well, actually "becoming an American citizen" is an overwhelming requirement for non-US citizens, just so they can pay money not to be abused by the US government. International visitors to the US - business people who may contribute to the economy, students and researchers who want to collaborate with US colleagues, or just tourists who spend $$$$ - are increasingly finding that going to the US is just not worth it.

Beyond that, I don't think Grandma who flies to Topeka every second year should have to pay for GE and pay for a passport she won't use, just so TSA won't put their hands in her underwear. Maybe it's just me.
Have you seen the federal budget for the intelligence services? It's not chickenfeed.

From last March:
Again, you seem to think that it's okay for non-US citizens to get the full treatment simply because they're non-US. Sounds like profiling to me...

txp

I look forward to visiting your beautiful country later this year. I am sure I will be treated very well when I travel domestic on QF.

saulblum

I won't say that Australia is free from security paranoia -- I happened to be in central Sydney during APEC in 2007 and was questioned by a cop after a security "guard" became suspicious of my photography -- but its airport experience was a hell of a lot more pleasant than any such experience here.

txp

No. Canadian citizens are pre-check eligible if they're in Nexus. Of course, in order to be in Nexus you must be interviewed by both a US and CAN officer. If Australia wants to extend US pre-check privileges to its citizens, then Her Majesty's Government should work with our Government to make that happen. Pre-screening by the Aust. Federal Police with an interview by A. Immigration and US CBP should do it. I have seen no evidence that the US is opposed to extending risk-based assessment to other countries. But the other country should be the one to ask for it. Thus, your first stop should be with your MP in Canberra.

This said, I would mention that profiling by citizenship is legal.

RadioGirl

Okay, so replace "you need to become an American citizen" with "you need to get your government to negotiate an agreement with the US, then pay money and go for two security interviews" just so you don't get abused by the TSA when you go to the US to do business there. Yeah, nothing "overwhelming" about that "requirement."

Not to mention that Canada has bought into too much of the US checkpoint nonsense, presumably in return for these sort of reciprocal arrangements, so if the price for GE/PreCheck/less abuse at a checkpoint on an infrequent trip to the US is that my frequent Australian domestic travel gets screwed up, forget it.

Or, I could just take my business and tourist dollars to one of the other ~190 countries in the world that don't feel the need to put their hands in my underwear. @:-)

RadioGirl

• Do arrive at the airport at least 30 minutes before departure.
• Don't take your shoes off at the checkpoint.
• Do feel free to take a bottle of wine (or other beverage of choice) in your carry-on; don't remove it at the checkpoint.
• Do remove your umbrella from carry-on at Canberra. (No one knows why but it's a small price to pay for the rest of the sanity.)
• Do notice the lack of shouting.
• Do notice the complete lack of airplanes raining from the skies.
• Do tell your friends about it when you go home.

I can't guarantee that you will be treated well on QF - that's sort of hit and miss , but the airport security itself is quite sensible.

txp

Thank you very much. We will be around Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, KI, Uluru (to climb or not to climb?), Cairns. Should be lots of fun!

No doubt that security will be more relaxed!

saulblum

Let's make an analogy: Around 30,000 people die annually on America's roads. Imagine if the government set up a "risk-based driving" model to benefit those drivers with a demonstrated clean driving record. Certain freeway lanes or new entire freeways will be designated as "PreCheck lanes", that also have a higher speed limit than the other lanes or freeways. These lanes will be open to all drivers who have driven at least 75,000 miles per year with no incidents for each of the past four years, and who have only owned cars from among a set of five car makers. If you lease your car and get a new car every two years, from different makers, you're out of luck. You can also pay a fee and pass a rigorous road test to become eligible.

But -- you won't find out whether you can actually use the special lane or freeway until you get to the on-ramp and a transponder reads your license plate and determines whether you are eligible for that trip.

Now tell me: how is this any different from PreCheck?

puddinhead

We've had cars for maybe 100 years and roads for thousands but TSA paranoia has only been around for about 11 years.

It is easy to force bureaucracy on a few hundred choke points (commercial airports and the security lines) than the billions of access points on streets and highways.

BubbaLoop

Let us put a "virtual face" to this: I am not a US citizen. I have two nationalities, one South American, the other European. Neither is a country associated with terrorism or unfriendly relations with the US. I am a 40ish petite white woman who certainly does not fit the profile of any known terrorist group.

When I fly from abroad into the US, I go through security that is pretty much like PreCheck: No shoes off, liquids stay in my bag and no full body scans or SPOT. It is fast, easy, painless. I then enter an airplane which often flies for hours over US territory, and does not fall from the sky, landing safely in its US destination city. After that, I leave the plane, and in order to connect and sometimes even to leave the airport, I have to remove my shoes and choose between being virtually strip-searched or groped. Add to that the fact I cannot qualify for PreCheck because I doubt either of my countries of origin will ever request PreCheck inclusion because, lets face it, requesting this is pretty ridiculous - security should not be such a pain to begin with.

Does that make any sense to you??