TSA restarting gate screening?
 

I looked back in the forum for two pages and found no prior references....
At Grand Rapids (GRR) Thursday on a UA flight to ORD I was
first in line to board and just as boarding started (just handing my BP to agent) two TSA people walked up with a folding table, set it up in front of the agent...the agent then made an announcement just as he was scanning my BP that there would be random security screening....fortunately I was on my way down the jetway and missed being "randomly" screened...I remember the old days when first person in line was frequently the "random" selectee.
Has anyone else seen this??

There have been occasional threads this year like this one which have reported random gate screening.

See post #2 in the link above where there are some links that take you back to earlier this year when this unfortunate practice was re-introduced to the traveling public.

GRR has always done more gate screening than other airports based on my observations.

Perhaps they are overstaffed?

One can only hope that the recent DHS budget cuts will help.

I always take a few moments to tell the GA what a senseless, disgusting practice gate screening is.

Gate screening is nothing more than evidence that the first round of screening is likely to be a failure. No-one who goes through the first "checkpoint" should have to be screened again.

MSO does it too -- and from the conversation I overheard this morning, it's because the NWA contract employees (and probably those of the other airlines, too) "bypass security" when they come upstairs to the gate.

So let me get this straight... the airlines' contract employees don't go through security.... so the passengers are subjected to random gate screenings?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Nice! So, with the new Red Carpet boarding line, the GS and 1K members will win a secondary screening when we take advantage of the perk? That makes perfect sense to me.:p


:td:

Gate screening never "restarted." It was widely used from 9/11 to 2003, then reduced and is now random.

Spiff, what does the GA's say in response? Do they seem to agree, or do they automatically side with the TSA?

There is no Red Carpet boarding line in GRR...

Oh CRAP!
 

I forgot to post about this! On my UA flight HKG-LAX on Dec. 14 there was gate screening for every single passenger. 5 tables were set up and everyone had to open their carry-on for full manual inspection. "Please change your gloves" was met with blank stares."

It varies.

I put the last GA on the spot, so to speak, because I said it loudly enough for the 3 gate harassers to hear me. She didn't reply but looked a little surprised as I went from "thank you, have a nice day." :) to pointing at the harassers and saying "that is really disgusting." :mad: before walking down the jetbridge.

International flights TO the United States fall under a different set of rules. There are no TSA "officers" screening those flights; local governments and contractors do the job. Gate screening--in one form or another--is actually required for most departures to the US.

This comes in many forms: from mandatory frisking of everyone (Belgium, South Africa), to the occasional peek at carry-on luggage.

The only place that doesn't have it is at Tel Aviv/Ben Gurion Airport. They rightfully argue that they should "do it correctly the first time." The TSA once said that they too liked this idea. But I guess they got bored and started back at it.

gee, so they started the "random screening" after pax have already proceeded down the jetway :rolleyes:. sheesh, you figure with all this time, they might get something right <hee hee & sarcastic snicker> but no, leave it to the tsa to let the evil ter'wrist CVO 1K 2 Million slip right by them. ;)

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I've seen groups for TSA screeners walking through ORD with a cart and a folding table. From time to time they can be seen doing gate screenings.

My international gate screening experiences:
LHR: random at the UA gates (on at least my 8 flights this year)..don't remember seeing it at AA gates
FRA I've never seen gate screening on UA or AA flights
SYD is mandatory for everyone (UA)
YYZ/YVR have never seen it
ZRH arrived to boarding area late (AA flight) but appeared that everyone was screened

CDG asks the questions to everyone in the jetway. Some get gate screened.

Canadian airports stopped this practice about two years ago.

For AA, it happens in the gate lounge area. It's unusual for business or first class passengers to be selected for this additional and unnecessary harassment. Usually there are 4-5 tables of harassers.

I would be very tempted to announce in the loudest possible voice, "I was already screened by TSA at the terminal. That should be sufficient or, is that screening not good enough for you?" :mad:

Do it. Passengers should put up a lot of resistance to this disgusting harassment. Make them change their gloves, even if they claim their gloves are new. They don't trust you, why should you trust them? If you can save even one person from this sick and unnecessary harassment, then such tactics are worth it. ;)

Who knows, maybe the screeners will see how disgusted the passengers are and quit this un-American agency?

Rather than showing "vigilance", this looks like "Couldn't you do it right the first time?" to most passengers. Another brilliant idea from TSA HQ that's backfiring, but they either don't (or won't) realize it, or don't care.

Also Random at AA gates.

However, if you jump over to LGW, you have the full ICTS question and answer game with the US carriers plus random or mandatory search; seems to vary depending on flight, day of the week, whether it is a full moon, and of course, changing politics. Always a random search at minimum.

I disagree. When it was "reduced," it practically disappeared. IIRC, its re-appearance began around the time of the widely discussed "surges" last year (or early this year?). It has most certainly "restarted."

Several weeks ago in PHX I watched the TSA screeners set up the "harrassment tables" near the jetbridge door about 30 minutes prior to boarding. Three or four screeners then stood at them like statues until boarding was announced. This occurred at Gate 2, which wasn't 50 yards from the TSA checkpoint.

The good news is that many passengers wondered aloud why the TSA felt the need to re-screen them given that they had just passed thru the checkpoint minutes earlier. Some passengers had very un-charitable things to say about the constant "you're always a terrorist suspect" attitude. Some comments about the "wasteful government agency" and "they must be overstaffed" were heard. ^

Amazingly, the wheelchair passengers were boarded with no gate grope. Then First Class was called, again with no gate grope. Having boarded at the end of First Class, I can only assume that the coach passengers were the intended victims. :(

The AA gate agents made an announcement about the random gate screening and asked everyone for their "full cooperation" with this "important security function" and other apologist tripe. No doubt these guys go bowling with the screeners. :td:

Does TSA enforce its liquid policy when they do gate screening? After the initial screening, a lot of us take the liquids out of our freedom bags and put them in our purses or backpacks. Do you get a chance to put all of your liquids back into your freedom bag, especially if this is a surprise gate screening? What about the liquids and drinks that were bought beyond the initial TSA screening point?

Which would meet head with my intractable insistence: "No gloves, no looksee. I'll wait."

Liquids purchased in the sterile concourse should not be confiscated during gate screening. Gate screening is pretty rare, but it appears during the holiday period they beefed it up at some locations.

..but how about empty bottles carried through the initial screening and refilled once airside?

How are the gate harassers going know where the bottle was acquired? Detective work (or critical thinking) isn't exactly their strong suit.

uh, Spiff, don't you mean detective work and critical thinking ;). in the this scenario, the terms are not mutually exclusive.

When you work in an airport, as I do, you probably see about everything. I've seen people look as if they were moving via the airlines! I think for most of the people who spend time in airports, the only thing they want TSA to do is pick up everything and leave and that's just not going to happen. It crossed my mind a few days ago, that we have been fortunate not to have had the bombings on our subways and other transportaion systems that London and Madrid had. Maybe some of the things that are considered harassment has been of some value. Just because we don't always agree or always understand it doesn't mean it is always a waste or that they are stupid. You must have at least 50% of people getting in to the security lines copping an attitude...before they have even come face to face with someone from TSA. Remember our government gave 6 billion dollars away to keep people from filing suits related to 9/11, because someone wanted to hang the blame on Argentbright..that they were not doing a very good job of screening. TSA is probably doing as much, if not more and something else were to happen, who would you blame then? The last time you had a happy travelling public, was the last day before the first checkpoint ever went up anywhere. But you also have some people who intentionally make it harder for themelves and others indirectly.

Welcome to Specious Logic 101. Maybe my Magic Rock has prevented such bombings? Maybe the Boogeyman is vacationing in the Himalayas? Maybe the threat of terrorism is severely overblown? The point is, there's no way to prove that the harassment has prevented anything.

Not agree: completely correct. I disagree with nearly everything that this disgusting agency does. But please, don't ever presume that we "don't understand" what this unnecessary agency is up to.

And with very good reason.

Our spineless government should have told these golddiggers to go suck an egg.

"Doing more" is not necessarily a good thing! A person on fire can "do more" by running around in a circle screaming and yelling than just standing there. However, "doing more" in this case actually makes the situation worse, not better. If anything else were to happen, I hope that the TSA's "leaders" go to prison (or even if something else doesn't happen) for providing expensive, bogus harassment instead of even a semblance of real security.

Just lucky? Not!
 

Perhaps it is just luck of the draw, but I have not seen gate screening (for domestic flights) since the months immediately after Sept. 11 and I am based out of GRR. Until today, that is.

I was a bit surprised to see that this was still happening. Of course, as the first person to step up to the gate, I was "randomly" selected for additional security. I asked the TSA agents if they knew my name. "No, sir, this is random," the senior one replied. After placing my bags on the table, I asked how they could have done a random sampling if they did not know who I was. "We just pick people randomly." I explained that, for the method to be random, they would have to do something like assign a number to each passenger booked on the flight, then use a random number generator to select a number of passengers based on a significant sampling size. I got a blank stare. I asked them how they define "random" and the other agent said, "we just pick people at random out of the line." That, I explained, is not random, and actually puts a bias into the system that could stymie their efforts.

This discussion continued for some time along these lines, but not in vain! By time I was finished with them (and vice versa), the jungle jet was boarded and there was not one else left for them to randomly select (read: harrass).

:D

I saw the folding table with 2 TSA screeners last month at MCO. We were in the US gates at the old terminal. They were going gate to gate and when it came time for us to board, luckily they didnt hit our family of 5, but I saw a guy right behind us that was really pissed!

He had lined up with the pre board crowd, but the TSA nailed him and I didnt see him board till waaaay later.

Makes no sense.

I have seen it at CO gates at MCO several times when I have flown in the last three months. As usual, it was just passenger harassment from TSA with no security benefits at all.

Way to take one for the team! :D

Are you guys sure he wasn't someone who was supposed to be additionally screened and wasn't? That's generally the only time we have people airside, when the airline calls us and tells us we screwed up on the SSSS pax, or sometimes when they have a connecting flight and didn't have to leave the terminal and are SSSS.

that is a good possibility.
gate sceening has always been a waste of time

Agreed. And I know at MCO we can't really spare the manpower for that BS.

Screening connecting pax (or rebooked pax in irrops) as SSSSelectees is incredibly stupid anyway.