"The Hill", A Washington, DC newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, ran a story November 14 about the experiences members of Congress are having while they travel -- it's interesting reading for their encounters with a lack of common sense at security and, in one case which I'll excerpt below, what California Rep. Darrell Issa believes was racial profiling which kept him grounded at Dulles while he was on a diplomatic mission to Saudia Arabia at the request of the President.

The story is at:

http://www.hillnews.com/111401/airport.shtm

and the excerpt from the story is:

###BEGIN EXCERPT###

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has also experienced travel frustration. In early October, he was sent by the Bush administration to the Middle East with Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) on a mission to convince the Saudi royal family to take a more active role in the war.

Arriving at Dulles Airport an hour and five minutes prior to takeoff, Issa, who has Arab roots, stood on line at the Air France ticket counter to obtain a boarding pass. He was wearing a suit and tie, his congressional pin and had in his possession his official congressional ID and passport.

Nevertheless, airline officials took his ticket and left him standing there for about 20 minutes. �They came back and said I wasn�t going that day,� he said, even though Wexler �made every effort to explain to them why I should go.� He added, �To this date, they haven�t explained anything to me.�

Air France officials cited �security purposes� for their refusal to allow Issa to board the plane. But Issa is convinced he was a victim of racial profiling.

Still, he�s uncertain. �There is an assumption possible that since I have an Arabic surname that whatever they punched into the computer caused it. We�ll never know. I believe it was profiling. I believe it was corporate bureaucracy.�

Issa said he is disappointed by what happened to him, but he understands �these are the times we live in.�

The following day he returned to the airport, determined to join Wexler on their Middle Eastern mission. Not taking any chances with Air France, Issa remarked, �I went British Air.�

###END EXCERPT###

Sad!

Just one more reason to give AF a miss!

As if one really needed it!

Well, now that they're experiencing the same things that we normal folks are, maybe they'll do some things that make perfect sense to most of us.

As if.

Is it any surpirse that a congressman would be profiled? I mean we all know that they're all criminals! Thanks, you're a great crowd, I'll be here all week.

Yet another example of the no accountablity
security the airlines have adopted. Where do they get the idea that passengers appreciate their vigilance? Sounds more like vigilante to me.

I find this situation very weird, but in some sort of twisted way I'm glad a congressman got it too. They shouldn't be on a get out of jail free pass just cause they work in congress any more than somebody should be denied boarding just because of their skin color.

Now, I don't have anything to do with the CAPPS system, and frankly have no idea how these IDB's come up. My airline, at the direction of the DOT, continues to tell us that a person's skin color/ethnic heritage/country of origin alone are NOT reasons to single somebody out for "extra" treatment.

Just thought I'd pass along that the airlines and DOT are aware of the issue and are NOT endorsing any such "selective" treatment.

It doesnt bother me one bit that someone may or may not be profiled at an airport so that there's better security in the air. Everyone's complaining about it (and the congressman even said he didnt know for sure that it was) but in any case, for all we know, the increased security and "profiling" may have indeed prevented another attack since 9/11. Boy, wouldn't we feel stupid if another attack had happened but we didn't catch the person beforehand because we were too afraid that they would run to the closest newspaper complaining about profiling?!?!

I think that these things are also pretty random, Barbara Walters was on Larry King last night and she said that the computer had chosen her twice since 9/11 to have all her bags gone through by hand. How many 70-something, socialite newswomen are terrorists? Maybe some other factors like last-minute purchases of a 1st Class seats also had something to do with it.

I think most of it is related to paranoia and this newfound 'extra' awareness of security in airports. There are many similar incidents where the security agents/FAs seemed to behave rather stupidly. I wouldn't blame them. Now that the entire security screening scenario has been changed (or rather was forced to reach at par with international standards), they will learn to judge better over the course of time. I read about a guy who got detained at arrival because he asked a FA how does emergency exit operate. Though I can only laugh at the dumb guy, that is a lousy reason to get paranoid! While all this superficial security is being showed off (who needs national security guards watching around with loaded guns in airports! They should rather be at the borders of Canada), really needed checks such as x-raying of ALL checked-in luggage and baggage matching is still being avoided.

Speaking of profiling, is it any wonder that my tall, blonde, somewhat pretty European female friend gets complementary upgrades all the time trans-Atlantic??? She was surprised when I told her most people get laughed at...

Maybe the good congressmen should have been flying an AMERICAN carrier rather an a foreign one!!

I don't have any problem with random selection for more thorough scrutiny. I do object to random selection or racial-profiling being used to deny boarding.

The only excuse I can see that AF may have is that he was late to check-in (was not there 2 hour prior to flight, or 3 hours as recommended for international travel) and as such there may not have been time to perform the more thorough checks and still make the flight.

If it was a case of him presenting to check-in with insufficient time to complete the thorough security checking and other formalities, then he is not really being denied boarding, but could be considered to have missed the flight due to his late arrival at the airport. Why bother with the formalities if he is not going to make it to the gate before the doors are closed.

Even a congressman does not deserve any special treatment in that case. However, if this was the case, AF should have told him so.

If people could bypass the detailed security checks by showing up late and asking to be excused so they can make the flight, how long would it take for the terrorist manual to updated with that recommendation.

Too bad TWA wasn't still around... I'm sure they would have been happy to transport the congressman.