warrenw

Wow... I've never been sent to secondary and have never had them say that I've prepared answers... maybe because I travel into the US on the west coast... that really sucks that that happens to you.

Dublin_rfk

sticker on SIN - EWR.

TDC

MEX-IAH the first day this was rolled out. Largely unintrusive, if somewhat annoying. Private security interviewed me twice: once just prior to check-in/bag drop and again prior to boarding with slightly different questions. Reminded me of similar ops in AMS, in theory. In practice, my second private security interviewer blatantly rolled her eyes and said, "This is all because of Trump..." She asked her two (?) obligatory questions and then we had ~30 seconds of small talk about Oaxaca and Día de Muertos. I appreciated her disposition.

sj22

This x 100. I also am starting to get annoyed at a lot of UA agents who are asking intrusive/insensitive questions in these prescreenings (I got asked who is paying for my trip recently in the business class line, they wanted to see my onward ticket, my immigration status in Canada where my permanent address is .... and this was checked 4 or 5 times). Its none of their business, and hey, you know the guy before you asked the same stupid questions so lets move on.

Customs and DHS is another game. I'll put out a story from 3 days ago. Arrived at EWR at 5:30am. Went through GE. My infant son who also has GE (from nexus) doesn't have fingerprints so we were directed to an agent to process him. Agent starting picking through my profile instead, running it again, finds something he doesn't understand and decides to send me to secondary (I do hint to him that I am already cleared by GE and all he has to do is process the infant). Sat in secondary for 30 minutes, no questions, 1 agent running through 10-15 applications. When my turn comes, agent gives me everything back and says you are fine. I end up with a missed connection. My bags end up in DCA, my final destination is SEA/YVR.

As a Canadian giving UA my business, I am really not liking it. I have requalified for 1K again, but will look at other options.

Welltended3

Hmmm. Sorry for the hassles. Flying back in Business from Sydney with Precheck we got asked if we packed our bags and that was it.

joejones

NRT-ORD yesterday (Friday 11/10): absolutely nothing out of the ordinary at check-in, but gate agents were going through the boarding queue asking everyone if they had packed their own bags, and I noticed a couple of people getting seemingly random secondary screening by the jet bridge. No sticker, and got to keep my bottle of gold medal-winning vending machine water.

Ironically I had the hardest time with TSA security in DCA at the start of my journey. Despite having PreCheck, I got selected for a "random" pat-down and then had to wait for something like 15 minutes for someone to show up to swab my laptop bag.

GUWonder

US CBP doesn’t generally make a stink about such kind of stuff — and if it does, it just means a quick bags on X-ray belt search on return to the US or a money hunt when leaving the US.

The people doing questioning for UA at AMS is where I would expect the most questions, but it’s still the same as it’s been for years and years. Nothing to worry about.

I have done a few UA EU-US flights in recent weeks and have also been able to otherwise observe what’s going on. It’s about the same as usual when flying UA from continental Europe to the US.

Silver Fox

I noticed no difference flying United from LHR T2 to SFO last week at LHR. When we got off the plane at SFO, CBP were checking everyone's passport on the jetbridge (looking at the picture page, no questioning) which was the only difference and may well have just been a coincidence, that I noticed. I didn't see anyone pulled to one side but I was pretty much one of the first off the plane.

GUWonder

That kind of thing on arrival at US airports of entry has been going on for years and years too. When it's not just a show of force for the dog and pony show, then it often means that CBP is looking for a particular individual or group of individuals to escort to primary and secondary investigation/searches.

That kind of thing has nothing to do with the current Admin's "enhanced security" for US-bound flights.

phkc070408

Knowing very little about pre-check, can anyone comment if those who do have it are scrutinized slightly less than those without it?

sfo789

At NRT earlier this week had a truly farcical "check". Agent came up to me in the G1 line and said "I have some TSA questions" -- proceeded to read from a laminated sheet of paper some basic "did the bags leave your possession" type qs. I nodded and he walked away immediately. Not exactly intense.

LHR doesn't seem to have changed, though one friend who is both a US citizen and a GE member got pulled over at the gate this morning for a quick talk to an ICTS-sticker-holding agent, which surprised me.

GUWonder

Same, with or without it.

I routinely even see some GE members who are US citizens (with the KTN field filled with their GE/PASSID numbers loaded) ending up with the "random" haraSSSSment boarding passes when flying UA to the US.

It's basically the same approach this year as last year, if flying UA from Europe or South America to the US is your reference point.

noname83

FRA yesterday exactly the same as before..
A few questions - that's it (takes less than 2 min)

mike2003242

Flew in yesterday from DUB. Asked how long I was there and if I checked a bag. That was it. I felt MUCH safer on the plane knowing that extra security measures like that took place!!

FlyfromDenver

Flew from BRU to ORD last week and ended up checking in twice because first flight was cancelled. Security peeps asked a couple of questions in the check in line and sticker on back of passport. Really didn't seem any different that other trips back from Europe.