Ask a SPOTnik
#106
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: LH HON Circle, Premier M&M World MC, UA MP
Posts: 389
#107
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: LH HON Circle, Premier M&M World MC, UA MP
Posts: 389
How would a BDO know what your security clearance is and why would it matter. Your getting on a plane to travel, what does clearence have to do with it. If you are traveling with certain docs you should know what the procedure is anyway. We have SOCOM pax often, great travelers.
#108
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: LH HON Circle, Premier M&M World MC, UA MP
Posts: 389
#109
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: LH HON Circle, Premier M&M World MC, UA MP
Posts: 389
Thanks for keeping America - and its values - safe.
#110
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: LH HON Circle, Premier M&M World MC, UA MP
Posts: 389
Sx displayed by the aforementioned could also be displayed by those "terrorists." You have no way of knowing; and you have to lean on the sign of caution --would you even believe somebody if they told you they had XYZ disability if you're interrogating them (only making their sx worse)?
#111
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 81
You totally sidestepped my question, will refusing to engage smalltalk with a BDO, or anyone else in the line lead to a secondary? I get the feeling the government thinks 'normal citizen' means the silly chatty-cathy people and the rest of us have something to hide, so we warrent further searches.
#112
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Salish Sea
Programs: DL,AC,HH,PC
Posts: 8,972
I'm not flying domestically any time soon, but I'm sure the first "I was SSSSed for ignoring a BDO" post won't be long coming.
#113
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend




Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 47,182
...Hah, really? When the hell did that start, and why aren't they doing anything of the sort at Huntsville?
We've had several drug busts and the like, and the only 'reward' we've ever recieved is... well... nothing, really. We just get back to work. What evidence do you speak of? The airport public saftey guys get a reward (IIRC, I think one of them said that it was the street-value of the drugs added to their department funding), so to speak, but not us extras in the white shirts.
And, for the record, it is SOP that it's to be reported. There's no justification given for it, no reasoning, and no training regarding it. It just is.
We've had several drug busts and the like, and the only 'reward' we've ever recieved is... well... nothing, really. We just get back to work. What evidence do you speak of? The airport public saftey guys get a reward (IIRC, I think one of them said that it was the street-value of the drugs added to their department funding), so to speak, but not us extras in the white shirts.And, for the record, it is SOP that it's to be reported. There's no justification given for it, no reasoning, and no training regarding it. It just is.
If it's in the SOP, I will deal with that soon enough. Once my group, with the help of our professional lobbyist partners, decapitates and finishes off SecureFlight, my next goal is getting us a copy of the TSA SOP and taking time to find this and other 'gems' we will use in our discussions with Congressional reps.
#114
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 239
Sx displayed by the aforementioned could also be displayed by those "terrorists." You have no way of knowing; and you have to lean on the sign of caution --would you even believe somebody if they told you they had XYZ disability if you're interrogating them (only making their sx worse)?
You totally sidestepped my question, will refusing to engage smalltalk with a BDO, or anyone else in the line lead to a secondary? I get the feeling the government thinks 'normal citizen' means the silly chatty-cathy people and the rest of us have something to hide, so we warrent further searches.
Sadly, I wouldn't be surprised to see a "SSSSed for ignoring a BDO" incident come up. That's why I've been suggesting that people pursue the issue if it does come up. These employees need to be revealed and properly dealt with.
Also, they really do hammer on the point in class that pax are not required to talk to us. I know it won't stop the rogue BDO or the rogue screener pretending to be a BDO.
There was evidence of this reported in the media a few years ago - I believe they found these arrangements at an airport or airports in California. We debated it here at the time. Just because you're not being offered incentive payments doesn't mean these arrangements don't exist between screeners and cops at other airports.
If it's in the SOP, I will deal with that soon enough. Once my group, with the help of our professional lobbyist partners, decapitates and finishes off SecureFlight, my next goal is getting us a copy of the TSA SOP and taking time to find this and other 'gems' we will use in our discussions with Congressional reps.
If it's in the SOP, I will deal with that soon enough. Once my group, with the help of our professional lobbyist partners, decapitates and finishes off SecureFlight, my next goal is getting us a copy of the TSA SOP and taking time to find this and other 'gems' we will use in our discussions with Congressional reps.
Good luck with your lobbying efforts. I will look forward to following the story as it proceeds.
Last edited by spotnik; Aug 25, 2008 at 7:21 pm Reason: Typos: Rouge or rogue screeners, which do you find more frightening?
#116
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
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Posts: 47,182
....Link, please, if you can find it. I would like to read more about this issue. I do hope that any employees involved in this arrangement found appropriate accommodations in the relevant department of corrections.
Good luck with your lobbying efforts. I will look forward to following the story as it proceeds.
Good luck with your lobbying efforts. I will look forward to following the story as it proceeds.
#117
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 239
Lol, The word was meant to be rogue. I will correct when I get home tonight.
Thank you. At the least, that gives me a place to start looking for myself.
Thank you. At the least, that gives me a place to start looking for myself.
#118
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: BMI based alternates CMI/PIA/ORD/IND/STL
Programs: AA Platinum Lifetime, Hilton Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 369
I can confirm that. It's happened twice at Huntsville, one of them where I personally found it (dude had, like, $14,000 in just, like, wads of $100s in his pockets) during a pat-down. I reported it to the Supervisor, Supervisor called Customs. Customs got there, asked him a few questions, and let him go after determining that he wasn't traveling overseas (which was, for some reason, something we were very specifically not allowed to inquire about ourselves; probably has something to do with legal liability and law enforcement procedures). The whole shebang took about ten minutes, IIRC, with nine of it being Customs' travel time.
#119
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 576
Sorry that you would such a hard time believing that this could happen but I have encountered this twice in the passed year. One individual actually had a physical altercation with a police officer. Happens all the time to elderly parents, the children ship the parents off to another relative when they no longer can deal with them. Talk about values, its not the BDOs who are dropping these folks off at the curb and then driving off. More often than not BDOs can calm people down and reduce a pax stress level.
Last edited by tsadude1; Aug 25, 2008 at 10:22 am
#120
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 576


