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LHR DL gate security for return US pax
I’d thought that my awful experience at LHR on 14-April could not have been topped. Realizing my physical and emotional exhaustion, the LIS security agents (arrivals) suggested that I request wheelchair assistance for departure on TAP (LIS/LHR) and DL (LHR/JFK). My 20-April security checks went from LIS passport control (great), arrival at LHR fast track transit security check (great) then to baggage claim (TAP refused my tiny soft-sided suitcase without putting it in sizer “it’s expanded” it wasn’t), then to departures security check (out of wheelchair, into 360 x-ray), then to gate, where I was interrogated and ushered into a crowded room with a split-out lane for those boarding directly. Wheelchair was left outside, attendant accompanied me to my seat. It seemed like only US pax were detained. I was called to desk, opened my 2 carryons and purse for physical inspection of their contents, then stood for a wand search, removed my shoes for a swab of my stockinged feet, and swab of my hands. My repeated requests for information were met with only “it’s a requirement of American Airlines and Delta, not Heathrow”. The attendant accompanied me onboard to my Delta One seat - almost the last to board. FAs weren’t aware of extra security and neither were nearby pax. I have a KTN and TSA Pre. No odd identifiers on electronic boarding pass. Can anyone confirm that this is “normal” AA and DL procedure? Thanks for reading. |
Originally Posted by Msokrent
(Post 31023936)
Can anyone confirm that this is “normal” AA and DL procedure? Thanks for reading. Definitely not the standard procedure; only about 15% of US bound passengers on US carriers are selected for secondary security screening. Take a look at the following threads: Yes, I realize that you did not see an SSSS designation on your mobile boarding pass, but you did receive the SSSS treatment. |
Originally Posted by Msokrent
(Post 31023936)
I’d thought that my awful experience at LHR on 14-April could not have been topped. Realizing my physical and emotional exhaustion, the LIS security agents (arrivals) suggested that I request wheelchair assistance for departure on TAP (LIS/LHR) and DL (LHR/JFK). My 20-April security checks went from LIS passport control (great), arrival at LHR fast track transit security check (great) then to baggage claim (TAP refused my tiny soft-sided suitcase without putting it in sizer “it’s expanded” it wasn’t), then to departures security check (out of wheelchair, into 360 x-ray), then to gate, where I was interrogated and ushered into a crowded room with a split-out lane for those boarding directly. Wheelchair was left outside, attendant accompanied me to my seat. It seemed like only US pax were detained. I was called to desk, opened my 2 carryons and purse for physical inspection of their contents, then stood for a wand search, removed my shoes for a swab of my stockinged feet, and swab of my hands. My repeated requests for information were met with only “it’s a requirement of American Airlines and Delta, not Heathrow”. The attendant accompanied me onboard to my Delta One seat - almost the last to board. FAs weren’t aware of extra security and neither were nearby pax. I have a KTN and TSA Pre. No odd identifiers on electronic boarding pass. Can anyone confirm that this is “normal” AA and DL procedure? Thanks for reading. I have had much the same kind of thing happen to me or other members of my travel party. It’s part of the normal routine there, albeit some experience this more frequently than others. |
TWA884 and GUWonder, Thank you for your kind replies. Is the “bad movie” interrogation a pass/fail included in the standard SSSS processing? If so, has anyone passed? Is this add-on specific to US pax on US carriers at all overseas departure points? I missed so much of Lisbon due to health issues and bad weather. Seriously considering a transatlantic cruise for next time. |
Originally Posted by Msokrent
(Post 31024783)
TWA884 and GUWonder, Thank you for your kind replies. Is the “bad movie” interrogation a pass/fail included in the standard SSSS processing? If so, has anyone passed? Is this add-on specific to US pax on US carriers at all overseas departure points? I missed so much of Lisbon due to health issues and bad weather. Seriously considering a transatlantic cruise for next time. The extra screening of this sort is generally way less likely and/or less serious when flying non-US carriers to the US, even when flying from the very same European airports to the US. BA from LHR to the US tends to have substantially less of this kind of thing going on at LHR than AA, DL or UA. While several European carriers to the US do now have SSSS flagging going on and additional screening going on as a result of that, it’s generally not like what goes on when flying US carriers from the EU. For example, LH group airlines have sometimes hit members of my travel party with SSSS, but each and every one of those circumstances was less intensive than what you described and has often been waived for me, something the contractors working US flights for US carriers have never done for me. |
This type of gate screening has been around for decades with varying levels of hassle and indecency.
In most cases, an "SSSS" on your boarding card indicates that you will be pulled aside at the gate (or at the checkpoint for departures from Canada and--usually--Frankfurt.) In other instances, you are chosen at random or maybe not so much at random. They try to fill a particular quota of passengers. There isn't a way around it. It's absurd that TSA Precheck does not apply to these screening scenarios, and there is no logical rationale to ignore it. But this is about security and theatre; logic is inconsequential. On many airlines, the secondary screening consists only of swabbing bags or shoes. But other airports and airlines have much more intrusive questions, searching, swabbing, and frisking. Indeed, Iceland's Keflavik Airport has an entire separate room for all of the passengers who are flagged for swabbing and frisking. The rules are set by the US government but there is wide variability in how these rules are enforced. |
Just to add, it's not limited to US citizens. Both my wife and I have had it, on separate trips (we pretend not to know each other when one of us has it, just in case the other is drawn in).
I find it happens to me on about 1 in 20 trips. I presume it's triggered by the US Government as part of the APIS information check. Strangely, I normally get an X on my entry form arriving in the US, but the last time I got SSSS I didn't get the X and cleared much more quickly. Personally, I'd far rather get SSSS and no X than the normal way around. |
Originally Posted by TWA884
(Post 31024050)
Welcome to FlyerTalk [MENTION=10042352]Msokrent[/MENTION]!
Definitely not the standard procedure; only about 15% of US bound passengers on US carriers are selected for secondary security screening. Take a look at the following threads: Yes, I realize that you did not see an SSSS designation on your mobile boarding pass, but you did receive the SSSS treatment. |
Back in early March, Mrs Flies and I were returning from the Middle East via FRA on LH. Sure enough, she got nailed with SSSS. They separated the SSSS victims from the masses. She went downstairs to the German pornoscope (didn't get a good look at it to see whether or not it was a Cancer Box) and for a frisking as only the Germans can do it. I took her laptop, phone and carryon with me through the normal line to minimize the property search and to eliminate the chance of curious eyes viewing her phone and laptop contents. It's amazing how much these countries go through and how much money they have spent just to comply with the TSA's extortion.
Added note: She handed me her stuff right in front of everybody, including the security clerks. Nobody cared. |
The dog and pony show for flights to the US on covered common carriers is a USG condition for the carriers being able to fly (or even fly back) to the US.
Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much
(Post 31340693)
It's amazing how much these countries go through and how much money they have spent just to comply with the TSA's extortion.
It’s unfortunate that so many countries’s governments enable DHS/TSA like they do and are not active opponents to this security theater charade. |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31341131)
The dog and pony show for flights to the US on covered common carriers is a USG condition for the carriers being able to fly (or even fly back) to the US. Technically, it’s how much these airlines and airports go through to satisfy DHS/TSA. It’s unfortunate that so many countries’s governments enable DHS/TSA like they do and are not active opponents to this security theater charade. |
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