Gate ID checks - what's the point & repercussions?
 

Though I wasn't able to push the issue with the smurf in question, as I was boarding my Iberia flight from JFK a few weeks back, we (all PAX) were accosted by a pair of them requesting we show our ID's again.

I waited until the last minute to even get my passport out (though I should have attempted to use my Vornado building ID - that would have caused a conniption!) and I flipped it open to my pic/details page, I presented it to him and he reached for it.

I did the usual "Oh, viewing it isn't good enough?" and he responds in kind with a very, very long look at it.

He says something to me as he hands it back to me and I guess you could say I jerked it from him (he was attempting the 'hold it longer in his hand to keep my attention') and I basically muttered something under my breath (unfortunately don't remember what the exchange was - possibly something like "What? It wasn't good enough the first time I passed through your gauntlet?") and turned away to continue down the jetway.

He proceeded to follow me hollering that I needed to continue this conversation with him and I even managed to make it into the airplane at which point the FA's got my attention and pointed to him.

We had a back and forth with him on the jetway (are smurfs not allowed on the planes?) and me on the plane that was mainly concerned with me having an obligation to show my ID upon any TSA request which struck me as more of a "Respekt mai authori-TAH!" than anything with real teeth.

So, what would my options have been in this case?

Present the passport and no questions/issues from me (Sich Heil! Meine papiere.)
Present another "photo ID" (Vornado building badge w/picture & name) and let it go from there.
Or do what I did which apparently crossed some unwritten rule that states we must always abide to the "babies in blue with the tin-pot badges"?

Had I refused to continue engaging him after I was in the plane, would a PAPD LEO been called and I have been detained for further questioning? And if so, under what authority would (could) that have been done? I was not interfering with any "SCOTUS-approved" screening process (I had already passed through into the sterile area) so unless I was willing to miss my flight (DY...T) I think I could have only been charged under that section of the code. Presuming I complied with the LEO's line of questions during their detainment.

Soliciting opinions on this one folks!

I suppose I should have captured their (two of them) details (badge/name) and filed a harassment complaint but we all know where those end up.

Wrapped around little cardboard tubes in the TSA bathroom stalls. :p

It's a double check to make sure your passport didn't fall out of your pocket in the bathroom or something.

When he yelled at you on the jetway again, you could have given the Hitler salute and said "jawohl mein Kamerad" (yes, my comrade) (no seriously, don't do it, he may have gotten the cops to tackle you or something).

I wonder what would happen if you gave the salute to accompany the above phrase? It certainly would draw the attention of the other passengers.

~~

Posted before I saw above response.

It will always be unpleasant because most of them resent us. We are going places and they are stuck there!

Jealousy.

Sure there is some security involved but most of it is just jealousy!

I just let it bounce off my shoulders and give them a really big smile.

:D:D:D

Are you being funny? This was TSA doing the check, not the airline.

Sounds like the attitude of some of the screeners at IAD. At least you didn't get the "you have no right to say anything to me", "you have no rights at the checkpoint" when asked about the 1st Amendment, and "I'll call the cops and have them detain you to MAKE SURE you miss your flight, I have that power" that I heard a LTSO say to a passenger in front of me one day.

I make it a point to tell them something akin to: "So, all that make-believe back there in Security was just useless show, then?!"

Funny, none of the smurfs seem to have an answer for me. :rolleyes: We here all know it's just stupid justification from the higher-ups to "prove" they're helping, I guess.

When you are running the world's largest and longest-running Kabuki theater, you need to increase your footprint so as to hide the utter futility of your efforts.

In all seriousness, when presented with a gate ID check am I correct in assuming that I can ignore the request and continue walking without legal repercussions?

One question: Since this was an international flight, are we sure the goons weren't ICE or customs? It's not happened to me personally, but, there are plenty of accounts on FT of FTers being confronted by these guys in the jetway doing outbound passport checks. Customs can take advantage of an international flight to run all sorts of outbound dragnets -- drug dogs, money dogs, literature checks, etc.

If it was TSA screeners doing this, it was 100% harassment. If it was customs or ICE, it was about 90% harassment. I just want to make sure we lambaste the correct guilty party bureau of DHS.

Probably no legal repercussions, unless the TSO gets p*ssed off and decides to call a LEO to the scene.

But the airline could decide to deny you boarding if the gate agent decides you are some kind of security risk. Airlines are private companies, most of whose Conditions of Carriage give them the right to deny boarding to anyone they wish at any time, in exchange for a full refund or other compensation. But You might not even receive compensation if denied boarding under "security"-related circumstances.


* I am not a lawyer, and the above does NOT constitute legal advice.



Isn't CBP/ICE authorized to examine departing international passengers to ensure compliance with currency reporting regulations and to check for smuggled items and other violations?


(Plus, they could always use the 100-mile rule, since it was a departure from JFK. ICE/Border Patrol claims the authority to stop and examine the documents of anybody who is within 100 miles of any land or maritime border of the United States.)

Definately TSA Smurfs in my cases (ex-SFO in the Int'l Terminal A to a domestic destination).

There are some TSO's who have been authorized by CBP to work international flights. Not all, but a few of us.

What does "work international flights" mean?