Passport Security Stickers
#61
Join Date: Aug 2004
Programs: Continental OnePass
Posts: 856
I know this is a very old thread, but I had a question very much related to the topic so it seemed better to post here that create a new one.
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
#62
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,647
I know this is a very old thread, but I had a question very much related to the topic so it seemed better to post here that create a new one.
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
#63
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
I know this is a very old thread, but I had a question very much related to the topic so it seemed better to post here that create a new one.
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
#64
Join Date: Nov 2009
Programs: DL PM 1MM
Posts: 3,441
I know this is a very old thread, but I had a question very much related to the topic so it seemed better to post here that create a new one.
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
I fly Europe to US a lot, so I am used to getting the questions and the stickers when I check in. However, my next flight I am not taking a direct route, rather than flying MAN-EWR I am flying MAN-FRA-IAH. I am also not checking any bags. Thus, my question is, where do I get my sticker? Can I just show up at boarding in FRA without a sticker and tell them I came in on a connecting flight?
#65
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: on the path to perdition
Programs: Delta, United
Posts: 4,786
Ever not had the passport "security" sticker?
Recently when departing LHR for a return trip to the US, having no checked luggage and an electronic boarding pass I was going to head to the gate. But I decided to ask if my passport needed to checked first. I was told I needed to pass through the "security" check first then go to the counter. The "security" check where they ask about your bags and put a silly sticker on the back of your passport before going to counter. The person at the counter said to do passport check at the gate.
I passed through the normal security and while in the lounge had my passport checked. I was told the check was not needed and I was set. When I got to the gate I showed my passport and BP. Where upon looking at the sticker I was "selected" for additional screening. The screening was joke.
Afterwards I got to thinking. In hindsight, as my passport did not need to be checked there was no real reason for me to go through the initial "security" check first thus no silly sticker. So wondering has anyone ever not had the passport "security" sticker when they got to the gate? What happened???
I passed through the normal security and while in the lounge had my passport checked. I was told the check was not needed and I was set. When I got to the gate I showed my passport and BP. Where upon looking at the sticker I was "selected" for additional screening. The screening was joke.
Afterwards I got to thinking. In hindsight, as my passport did not need to be checked there was no real reason for me to go through the initial "security" check first thus no silly sticker. So wondering has anyone ever not had the passport "security" sticker when they got to the gate? What happened???
#66
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
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Posts: 102,095
Afterwards I got to thinking. In hindsight, as my passport did not need to be checked there was no real reason for me to go through the initial "security" check first thus no silly sticker. So wondering has anyone ever not had the passport "security" sticker when they got to the gate? What happened???
Skipping the check-in desks and/or transfer desks on my Europe-US trips is not a reliable way to avoid a secondary search at the gate areas for flights where the sticker on passport OBC is part of the process. Whether they choose to apply the sticker or not at around that “late” point, it doesn’t really change anything.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 21, 2022 at 2:36 am
#67
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 38
What do those "ICTS" stickers mean?
I notice that I've got 5 small "ICTS" and "Swissport" stickers on the back of my passport each scribbled with some sort of code of digits and letters. No one else I know seems to have these on their passports. I've googled it and couldn't find a clear answer, it all seems a bit "smoke and mirrors" if I'm honest.
#69
Join Date: May 2015
Location: ATL/MCO
Programs: Costco Executive, RaceTrac Sultan of Soda, Chick-fil-A Red
Posts: 5,664
I notice that I've got 5 small "ICTS" and "Swissport" stickers on the back of my passport each scribbled with some sort of code of digits and letters. No one else I know seems to have these on their passports. I've googled it and couldn't find a clear answer, it all seems a bit "smoke and mirrors" if I'm honest.
I've had ICTS usually write the day's date and the officer's intials indicating that I've been asked the (stupid) security questions and had my documents checked. Sometimes the sticker indicates what immigration status you're traveling on.
TK's security contractor Gözen at IST who loves stamps and stickers for US flights put one sticker with the agents initials and the date of my flight, another identical sticker with "ARC" on it meaning "Alien Resident Card" a term used for Green Card that US CBP will write on the (these days rare) entry stamp. A third blue sticker with no space to write on was stuck next to the two others, unclear what that meant. When I got to the enclosed gate armed with my stickers, my travel docs were checked again and I was let into the holding pen before boarding. BP was stamped with a blue ink stamp and something random was scribbled. After that check a fourth sticker, similar to the blue one was glued to the back of the stub of my boarding pass. I'm now thinking is this really necessary?
Many airlines, usually non-US do not care about such arrangements.
Took NH on Monday HND-JFK and it almost felt like I wasn't going to the US. No questions at check in or gate, the gate itself wasn't shielded from the rest of the terminal nor were docs checked that well during boarding.