I was the recipient of this kind of quiz on Saturday, flying with AA from CDG to PHL. I finally got sick of it and said

"So you have two exams a year, right?"
"No, I told you how many exams there are".
"I think we've played this game long enough. I have a plane to catch"

"Yes, bon voyage, au revoir"

I hesitate to post the entire transcript. It's quite long, and nonsensical.

Would you rather they did nothing, I agree as I fly weekly and internationally I see many incidents of idiotic security and for every new initiative for every new emerging threat find the loop holes worrisome as a flyer, but roll with it.

You see "The Foreigner" yet

Yes.

I have Nexus. Global Entry. Been vetted left, right, up, down, centre. I travel to the US on a visa vetted by the State Department

I suspect many others on this board have a similar situation.

It's theatre, its meaningless, and will have absolutely no impact.

So in the absence of any sort of real, rational screening that will have an impact, yes, I would prefer they did nothing. Because having an 18 year old kid who has absolutely no expertise in doing this type of questioning is just another waste of time.

I love how it's a "foreigner." External threats .... Las Vegas shooter, etc.

Pogo nailed it.

https://image.ibb.co/jHPDdG/pogo.jpg

Maybe they should start doing this line of questioning for all intra-country flights.

In the same vein, the Canadians here using NEXUS will remember the "security screening" process for the Ebola scare. It was nothing more than pure window dressing for the sheep.

On the NEXUS computer terminal they asked you 3-4 questions you had to answer before you got your card, and then you had to then stand in a line to answer the same 3-4 questions put to you from a Canadian border guard before you could pass.

I was so fed up one day that I said to the guy, "listen, I know you are just doing what you are told, but these African countries they are concerned about have reciprocal visa requirements with Canada, so in order to enter them, and to prove whether or not I have been to one of them, a better policy would be for each pax to have their passport reviewed by a border guard for said visa's, instead of the current method, which is a waste of your time and mine, as everyone is going to lie to you anyways"........

The look on his face was priceless.

The kind of questions are as ridiculous as ever — no worse and no better than before.

Listening in on the questions (and responses) is rather amusing. But the approach certainly doesn’t inspire me as this approach being an efficient move at improving contraband WEI interdiction.

I suspect you missed the meaning of the quote.

FWIW the "Foreigner" is recent Jackie Chan movie based on a book called the Chinaman. As you can imagine in today's emotionally charged overly sensitive political atmosphere a movie named "Chinaman" wouldn't go to well. Evidently "Foreigner" struck your sensitive nerve as well :D

For those still interested and haven't seen the movie. They IRA terrorist successfully integrated C4 into a lithium battery pack for a laptop that ran on the remaining cells and the internal clock to explode while the plane was in the air, interesting angle indeed as something like that likely could get sneaked thru security, actually not a funny thought at all!

Fair enough, and I admit I didn't take the time to understand the context before posting.

Having said that -- can anyone possibly think that a $20/hr Swissport temporary worker aka part time student with a minimal security training course, asking inane questions ("what is your dog's name?" "Do you toboggan in America?" "Why do you like cheese?") could detect such an embedded device?

Absolutely not. And that describes the woman I encountered in Paris to a T. I was flying to the US.


"Where do you live?"
"Paris"

"What do you do in Paris?"
"I'm a student"

"Where?"
"SciencesPo"

"What are you studying?"

"(thinks that actual name of degree, Transnational Arbitration and Dispute Settlement, might be a little confusing, so I come up with a quite truthful alternative) International Law"

"But what kind of law?"
"I told you, International Law"

"So, like family law for example?"
"No, as I told you, International Law"

"But what *actual* kind of law are you studying?"
"International Law, as I told you. It is an *actual* kind of law"

"Do you have exams?"
"Yes"

"How many?"
"There are exams each semester, and there are three semesters in a year"

"Do you enjoy studying at SciencesPO?"
"Yes"

"What kind of law are you studying there?"
"As I told you, International Law"

"Where do you attend classes?"
"As I told you, SciencesPo"

"But where are your classes actually?"
"At one of the various SciencesPo campuses, it varies"

"Such as?"
"Such as rue Saint Guillaume"

"How do you get to class?"
"I walk"

"From where?"
"Home"

"Where is home?"
"Montparnasse"

"So you have two exams a year, right?"
"No, I told you how many exams there are".
"I think we've played this game long enough. I have a plane to catch"

"Yes, bon voyage, au revoir"

"We were told to identify selectees and non-selectees, but I myself didn't dare to do so because I didn't know what a selectee was... We weren't given any concrete instructions... We just said, 'Okay, let's take a person out and give them a sticker.' She didn't know what action the sticker initiatioed."

"She worked a fifteen hour day. Neither of her colleagues spoke English, despite the fact that one of their principal tasks was to question passengers about their baggage as a prelude to deciding if they should be classified as selectees."

Interview with Sabine Fuchs, a Pan Am "Alert" security screener. She had no security experience or training until a one-day class three weeks after Lockerbie.

It seems like nothing has changed.

Wallis R. Lockerbie: The Story and the Lessons. 2001: Praeger Publishers, Westport CT. 110.

I flew LGW-JFK on Monday on Norwegian. The day before, I got a text telling me that check-in was opening four hours before flight time to allow time for additional questioning. What happened? No additional questioning for me at check-in, at x-ray or upon entry at the boarding gate. Upon entry at the gate area, a few people got pulled aside to get their bags searched, but it seemed random and it seemed like one out of every 20-25 people, so not too many. There was seemingly no reason to get there so early.

I'll never forget the ICTS thug at AA's bright white transfer room asking me the stupid questions.

Thug - "Where were you travelling?"

Me - "Basel."

Thug - "Why?"

Me - "I was visiting my friend who is a cancer patient and just finished her chemotherapy."

"Oooooooh"

Sticker, passport back, looks down at the floor embarrassed.

Oh please - the Israelis control ICTS, who are both obnoxious and theatrical.

:D:D

Do you really believe that?

That isn't an international agreement. It is coercion.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to experience this at both the QR Business Check-in Counter at DOH, as well as the security set up at C2.

At the Business Check-in Counter, they separated my companion and myself and asked us the same bunch of questions:

Q: "Where are you traveling from?"
A: Singapore

Q: "Where are you traveling to?"
A: Los Angeles

Q: "Are those your bags?" (points to my carry-on bags)
A: Yes

Q: "Did you pack them yourself?"
A: Yes

Q: "Where did you pack them?"
A: In the hotel

Q: "Which hotel?"
A: Souq Waqif Boutique Hotels

Q: "Did you receive any gifts from anyone?"
A: No

Q: "What electronics do you have with you?"
A: Laptop, tablet, camera, battery packs

Q: "Were any of those repaired while you were abroad?"
A: No

Q: "Did you buy any of these abroad?"
A: No

Mind you, I already had my boarding pass and my passport and was about to join the line for Exit Control.

Then, at the gate, the real fun started, as they made all passengers take out all electronics and have them swabbed. Then, after the swab came back clear, the items were put into a duty-free bag, sealed and then had a "HIA Security Screened" sticker applied to the seam. During this, they asked questions about the origin and function of the electronics.

And, because I was SSSSed at Check-in, I had all of my carry-on bags opened, and swabbed for explosives. Then, they had me take off my Naot sandals, put them through the x-ray scanner, then they swabbed those too.

After boarding, one of the J FAs asked if she could open the duty-free bags so I could put my electronics away before departure.

If this is the new norm, I'll take arrival screening in SIN when arriving from CGK any day over this.

At RTB recently, I refused to answer most of the questions the newly hired wannabe psychologist had for me before even getting to the check-in counter. I told her that it was not relevant to the airline or the TSA what I had done on my vacation, nor where I was flying to, nor what I did for a living.

I promptly received a red sticker ("Delta Security", not ICTS) instead of a green one, and the only effect of that was to be called up with a few other passengers, getting my carry-on and myself swabbed for explosives, and then being allowed to board first as the "time-out" pen is right next to the exit door from the terminal. :)

So useless, and so many loopholes.

I will be interested in seeing the PNR, which DL refuses to provide, but which presumably I can get through FOIA from CBP.