I don’t know if it was a bad roll of the karma dice or “they” are really out to get me, but mid-December at LHR on AA to JFK my wife and I got:

Check in at the Park Avenue location caused a full hand inspection of the check-in bag for my wife and I. This included poking into every pocket and corner.

WTMD was completely normal, no beep, no delay.

Arrive at the gate and get sent aside to a screening line. Started with inspection of documents, then “ordered” to empty pockets, remove ring/watch and place everything onto table. The (probably) contract inspector then picks up my wallet and proceeds to poke thru the contents, opens PDA, looks at cell phone etc. Next was a full, vigorous pat-down with full palm contact (no back of the hand for these guys) right in public. Then told to pick up our property and sit in a nearby chair and remove our “trainers”. Not being fluent in British English it took a few “what?” responses before “trainers” were translated into our shoes. They took our walking style shoes and closely hand-inspected them, including putting their hands into the shoe to feel around.

The next step was a full carryon bag dump, opening every pocket and inspecting every item in the bag. They seemed to be afraid of something as they required me to open/unzip every item and then took it to inspect. With my bag this took a little over 5 minutes at which time the inspector was puzzled by my carry-on smoke hood. She went to her supervisor (an AA GSC) who then come over and said that she had determined that I could not bring the hood onto the aircraft. A VERY tense “discussion” with the GSC followed (currently the subject of a complaint filed with AA) where she made some truly outrageous comments including threatening to “report this to the pilot”

All in all, I was very happy to be getting out of LHR once we finally boarded.

Was the boarding pass 4 S'ed? That just doesn't make any sense...

No, we were "clean" of the dreaded SSSS, both EXP etc and this was done at the AA gate, not at the regular WTMD. We did get to the gate a little early so perhaps we were the lucky ones for "continuous" security.

It helps to minimize flying on US carriers from Europe as the hassles generally decrease substantially.

(Also, LHR has recently made changes to its security set-ups and has become more of a hassle than before -- especially with US carriers.)

Ah... okay. I had a similar happening in SYD last year at the UA gate. I was also early at the gate, but who knows why? I'd "almost" chalk it up to payback...
Sorry you had to go through that.

I'd complain to AA bigtime about not only the confiscation of the smoke hood, but the threats to report you to the pilot. That's totally uncalled for, especially when they were in the wrong about stealing your harmless smoke hood in the first place.

If you are checking in to the downtown London HEATHROW EXPRESS you stand a chance of getting fingered by the duty cop to go through the new 'STRIPPER RADAR" that can actually see your genetalia - and everything in between your skin and the sensor.

If you want to maintain your privacy, better get some of those X-ray safe film bags sewn into your underwear.

They promise to have an operator of the appropriate sex operating the machine - they don't say what they are doing with the stored images. Maybe they will show up on some InterNet site later.

Hand inspections of wallets are unneccessary - just a risk of losing something. Gold rings don't require removal as they will not cause security equipment reaction.

As others say, best to AVOID US carriers as they are flakes at the best of times - Euro carriers have far much maturity when dealing with security.

Also, carry thick, clear plastic bags - cooking bags are good - and put your property in them and seal. Theft of passenger property at Heathrow is slight but damn heavy in the US. Insist that your property remain in eyesight and that any special inspections be done in your presence.

Already done and AA has come back stating that "this should not have happened" The smoke hoods were put into a spare ripstop backpack with an ID tag that I always carry on in case I get an overweight situation or need to gate check something. They arrived at JFK and were back in our carryons for the next 3 segments I need to get back to AA to force them to send me something that states that AA policy is to allow smoke hoods on AA flights in case I run into that same GSC at LHR next month.

I'm really sorry to hear this. Heathrow has typically been a little more tolerable than some other AA stations in Europe.

I think that you should send something not just to AA but to the station manager for AA at Heathrow. Tell him or her that you are going to stop flying American because of this behavior. I think it's also appropriate to say that you have posted your experience on the internet and have advised frequent flyers to avoid American at London/Heathrow until changes are made.

The more elite passengers who complain, the better. There are certain layers of security required by the FAA for US airlines departing from "extraordinary risk" airports. BUT American has a say over how much of this screening is conducted and the attitude of its contract screeners.

I think that American recently switched to an all-ICTS contract for Europe (I'm not sure, but I recall reading a press release.) American can therefore tell ICTS that its passengers are unhappy. ICTS is not the only shop in town, so you and American have some leverage.

As I often say, the screeners can get away with being more intrusive if they are polite and friendly. Power trips do not enhance security and are an insult to the passenger.