pewpew

Weird. Despite numerous US-CA flights on AC, UA and US, US has been the only one that checked docs prior to boarding, and that was a single time. Then again, I'm also Canadian and check-in with agents instead of kiosks each time.. I think the TSA is the only one who writes on my BP though?

iluv2fly

That red stamp with the ink that smears is still alive and well at ORD.

meFIRST

I have personally complained to United at least 3-4 times. I have 2 passports. If I use the non US one, the people working the gate go berserk. Only United will check documents twice, once at check in which everyone does and a second redundant visa check at the gate. The check is very comprehensive, is triggered by a yellow exclamation mark at the kiosk. This requires an agent to waive a pass.

The second check is unique to United, specially I have found, to stations that used to be Continental, because its an old continental practice. ( In my observation pmUA did not do this)

What happens is they will then attempt to single out any passports they don't recognize, for another TIMATIC check. Passports they don't recognize : Anything non US and non European. The person at the collecting boarding passes at the gate can't go to the computer, so usually, they ask you to step aside, which a colleague then checks it again. Or as you pointed out, they yell nationalities to the person working in front to the computer to check. Personally, I consider it an invasion of my privacy to yell my passport country out to the whole gate, and extremely unprofessional. Usually what they will do is pull you aside.

Now what other airlines do is much more civilized : American, Lufthansa, a few others will print the words "DOCS OK" on your bp, meaning that you have been checked and are cleared to board, eliminating this second redundant check at the gate, which does in fact slow boarding. I personally told off one of the ladies working the gate and told her it would be impossible for me to get the boarding pass if I wasn't checked for documents at check in, her response was "they might have missed something". What ever. So manual.

Personally I think the practice of yelling nationalities for a manual TIMATIC check to be disconcerting, as well as pulling people aside. The DOCS OK practice solves the problem.

I have complained enough times but to no avail. United apparently gets fined for not properly checking documents, but what I have found is that this practice of manually checking the second time doesn't help at all. For example, i was traveling to Europe (transiting) no visa required anyway but than going to a country where a visa is required ( my final destination) , the UA staff only bothered to check the first flights requirements. The lady working the gate was so crude. Also there was a case reported here where some folks going to the Philippines via china were denied boarding because they didn't have a Chinese visa ( not needed).

KLM / AF has a system where the gate agent has a card of the list of countries that need visa's for a specific flight that can be very quickly checked at the gate during boarding, without having to go through TIMATIC.

I encourage the poster to please tell your experience to UA. I personally hate the way the second manual check is conducted, which singles out anyone that chooses to present a non US / EU passport at the gate. Its extremely discriminatory, and other airlines do this with a bit more "class"

Also as I understand it, gate agent work is minimum wage - high stress

Alternatively you can just not fly UNITED

meFIRST

DOCS OK is not a supported feature on SHARES.

United now uses the legacy continental system, the words INTL shows up, which asks every bozo that works for UACO to do a manual timatic check.

So much for technology....

meFIRST

I think this is a YMMV situation. At EWR and IAH, you will get a second redundant check at the gate.

I have never seen a DOCS OK stamp at any former Continental stations.

ani90

Public Humiliation? How? I have been singled out several times and have seen many other pax singled out too. I have once been called off the plane to the jet way to have my documents checked. I have never felt humiliated or considered others undergoing extra checks as humiliated. I often out of curiosity ask why I was singled out and get varied answer but I never feel bad about it, and if anything feel reassured that someone is doing their job. I don't know your nationality, but certainly non-US nationals see a fair share of 'singling out' when flying from overseas airports to the US.

When people are called aside for further checks it gives me reassurance that the system is working as it should. Remember that some of these checks are intentionally random - so why should they be seen as humiliating? Maybe with more singling out at the gate - be it targeted or random - some breaches in airline security, some of which have major consequence, could have been avoided.

trini19

No
No

Being a 1K and regardless of passport origin, does not exempt anyone on any airline from being randomly checked at the gate. With the state of world affairs I welcome the checks as a last ditch effort that no one sneaks on the plane, and also I am sure the GA just wanted to double check that all was ok with your passport. GA's do not memorize which country allows free entires for other passports. Even with the bp check stamp, random checks can occur.

I am suprised that UA gave you 5000 miles compensation for a GA doing their job but consider yourself lucky.

iluv2fly

I'm thinking that the OP would complain that he was publically called out if a gate agent called his name out for an upgrade to C/F.

OP was compensated 5000 miles - about 5000 miles too much, IMHO.

Seriously, what does the OP want? A pound of flesh?

astroflyer

I think 5,000 miles is great compensation for what you felt was embarrassment. For me, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but if you felt badly enough about it to complain, then nice of them to give you something.

If you don't like docs & security checks, I would discourage you from flying in India. They like to stamp everything (including tags attached to carryons) and then check them repeatedly. Also pretty thorough security screenings (read pat-downs) are involved.

Even flying through Munich things were out of control last time. There was something like 3 separate boarding pass checks, all the stupid questions, and then a secondary security check for everyone that was the most thorough I've ever experienced. They pulled out every single electronic item from my bag (calculator, camera, cell phone) and put them through the x-ray scanner one at a time.

rufflesinc

Yes but then he'd complain it was cooked medium rare instead of rare.

emcampbe

Are you referring to flights to Canada specifically, or international flights in general?

As previously mentioned, Canadian regulations require a doc check on boarding or at the gate for all flights to Canada. Doesn't matter who you're flying - it must be done. IME, sometimes, the GAs will announce passengers can come to the podium, shortly before starting boarding, mark it off, and then just the BP at actual boarding. Some just check when you board. Depends on the GA. Some like doing it some way, some the other. I travel between US and Canada several times a year, almost always on UA, and this is always how its been done, at least for the last ~10 years. On AC, its usually only done while boarding. Any airline who isn't checking passports on boarding to/from Canada is breaking the law, and is liable to be fined for it.

International is likely different. May not be legally required to be done, but some carriers do anyway. UA usually does. Visa/passport check. As mentioned before, they don't want to be fined for transporting someone without proper documents to enter the country they are traveling to. Its not a cost-cutting thing (as someone mentioned upthread) - its wanting to double-check so they are not incurring costs/hassle they don't need.

Internationally, it can be done differently on different carriers and from/to different destinations. I say that having just returned from a year living in BOM and having flown several carriers internationally. TK, TG and CX, for example, don't check passports at the gate for their flights to their hubs. But do check passports/visas returning back to BOM (not sure if that's a requirement, or just covering themselves). SQ does check on their flights to Singapore from BOM, IME. And despite the fact that TG doesn't check passports ex-India - BKK, they insisted on seeing a passport before I could board my domestic BKK-KBV (and return) flights.

Another story, I was coming back to Canada, BOM-ZRH-YYZ. Boarded LX in BOM and everything was fine. At ZRH, boarding to YYZ, AC had some outsourced security folks checking passports just in front of the gate, then when boarding, the GA was checking passports also. I got called aside because the birthdate they had in the APIS for some reason didn't match the one on my passport. So I had to wait while they checked it out and switched it.

It is what it is and not that big a deal.

bmwe92fan

Yes unfortunately it is...

PTahCha

This threads reminded me of my first international flight on CO, LGA-IAH-LIR. I was using a non-US passport, and sure enough, the machine beeped at IAH, and they had to do a secondary passport check, even though the agent at LGA had to manually verify the passport because the kiosks kicked me out of the check-in process due to doc check.

Yes, I did a as I pulled my passport out one more time. Was I humiliated or embarrassed? Hardly.

euslaner

That is standard procedure. I can't get on a UA international flight anywhere without a passport check.

TomMM

I fly out of an airport that has no Intl connections and United has never checked my passport at check in when I am on the initial domestic leg of an Intl trip. Only at the gate at ORD, IAH or EWR will my passport be checked. Delta on the other hand always checks my passport at check in and at the gate of my INTL departure.