UA900 July 6th SFO-FRA
Jul 8, 2002, 9:23 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2000
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UA900 July 6th SFO-FRA
I was on F Class on UA900 from SFO-FRA this Saturday.
Seemed like a normal flight. F lounge concierge walked us to the plane. The standard agent took my boarding pass and passport - NO random search!
We pushed back on time. THEN pushed back into the gate. Pilot comes on with a "someone cannot find their green card so we will hold at the gate for a second while the look for it as we don't want this person to have problems coming back into the country" That done, then we wait again - this time a "mechanical"
We sit around for 10 minutes waiting for a mechanic to come on board. Door 2L gate appears, I see nothing from the F , THEN the purser is asked to call the cockpit... FA's are running around like crazy now standing in the aisle in front of all the doors. Door1L gate appears.
Captain comes on a few minutes later and says "We are opening up the aircraft to let everyone off while we check this mechanical issue - we think you will be more comfortable off the plane - take ALL your belongings with you please, etc". Door 1L opens and we are all taken off.
As we walk off the plan into the boarding lounge then we notice something is a miss... SF Police are EVERYWHERE in the boarding lounge. They will NOT let us go upstairs back into the terminal OR to any restrooms.
I call the 1K desk and ask what is the deal with UA900 as we are getting nothing from the agents. 1K desk tells me "back to the gate for security reason"... It becomes clearer after plainclothes TSA and officers show up (BTW: I think I can spot plainclothes TSA people a mile away!!) The UA agents at the gate call a passenger forward after about 20 minutes of waiting. He walks up and an SF Police officer asks him if he is "(name witheld)" He says, "Yes" and they take him away saying "We need to talk to you". He doesn't resist or say anything.
At this point since they won't let anyone use the facilities and we have NO clue on a reboarding time (we all assume even though no one tells us that SFO airport police are sweeping the plane). Finally after a bunch of people tell the plainclothes TSA idiots to get a clue and release us from the gate OR escort people to the restrooms they relent and start a little secure area to walk people to the restrooms IN THE INBOUND immigration area.
We board about 10 minutes later. So we have been waiting on the plane about 40 minutes, then waiting in the terminal about 40. On reboard I and another 1K in F get chosen for "random searches" So my good luck on not getting searched turns truly random!
As we get back on the plane and pushback, the Captain comes on and states that he assumes we are not idiots and tells us the real reason we went back to the gate was for a security issue. He assured us it was taken care of and apologized for having to lie about it - but explained it was the right thing to do under the circumstances...
Captain and crew handled it well and no-one really seemed to upset about it.
Left 2 hours late, got in about 2 hours late...
I'm assuming the passenger was on a watch or "do not fly" list. Don't know if he was confirmed as the same person on a list. Haven't seen anything on any local SF paper websites.
Where any other FT'ers on the flight?
[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 07-08-2002).]
Seemed like a normal flight. F lounge concierge walked us to the plane. The standard agent took my boarding pass and passport - NO random search!
We pushed back on time. THEN pushed back into the gate. Pilot comes on with a "someone cannot find their green card so we will hold at the gate for a second while the look for it as we don't want this person to have problems coming back into the country" That done, then we wait again - this time a "mechanical"
We sit around for 10 minutes waiting for a mechanic to come on board. Door 2L gate appears, I see nothing from the F , THEN the purser is asked to call the cockpit... FA's are running around like crazy now standing in the aisle in front of all the doors. Door1L gate appears.
Captain comes on a few minutes later and says "We are opening up the aircraft to let everyone off while we check this mechanical issue - we think you will be more comfortable off the plane - take ALL your belongings with you please, etc". Door 1L opens and we are all taken off.
As we walk off the plan into the boarding lounge then we notice something is a miss... SF Police are EVERYWHERE in the boarding lounge. They will NOT let us go upstairs back into the terminal OR to any restrooms.
I call the 1K desk and ask what is the deal with UA900 as we are getting nothing from the agents. 1K desk tells me "back to the gate for security reason"... It becomes clearer after plainclothes TSA and officers show up (BTW: I think I can spot plainclothes TSA people a mile away!!) The UA agents at the gate call a passenger forward after about 20 minutes of waiting. He walks up and an SF Police officer asks him if he is "(name witheld)" He says, "Yes" and they take him away saying "We need to talk to you". He doesn't resist or say anything.
At this point since they won't let anyone use the facilities and we have NO clue on a reboarding time (we all assume even though no one tells us that SFO airport police are sweeping the plane). Finally after a bunch of people tell the plainclothes TSA idiots to get a clue and release us from the gate OR escort people to the restrooms they relent and start a little secure area to walk people to the restrooms IN THE INBOUND immigration area.
We board about 10 minutes later. So we have been waiting on the plane about 40 minutes, then waiting in the terminal about 40. On reboard I and another 1K in F get chosen for "random searches" So my good luck on not getting searched turns truly random!
As we get back on the plane and pushback, the Captain comes on and states that he assumes we are not idiots and tells us the real reason we went back to the gate was for a security issue. He assured us it was taken care of and apologized for having to lie about it - but explained it was the right thing to do under the circumstances...
Captain and crew handled it well and no-one really seemed to upset about it.
Left 2 hours late, got in about 2 hours late...
I'm assuming the passenger was on a watch or "do not fly" list. Don't know if he was confirmed as the same person on a list. Haven't seen anything on any local SF paper websites.
Where any other FT'ers on the flight?
[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited 07-08-2002).]
Jul 11, 2002, 12:48 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: SFO
Posts: 1,045
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NickP 1K:
I'm assuming the passenger was on a watch or "do not fly" list.</font>
I'm assuming the passenger was on a watch or "do not fly" list.</font>
Jul 11, 2002, 12:58 pm
#3
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: The Internets
Posts: 8,266
On a related note, on my last HKG-SFO flight when we arrived at SFO:
As we were about to stop at the gate, the captain asks us to remain seated after the aircraft's come to a full stop. After the doors are opened, they announce that "Federal Authorities are on board and looking for a passenger, please remain seated". Ooops. I am never 100% sure to have all my paperwork with me, so I always assume they're looking for me (past experiences with INS have something to do with this).
They walked to the back of the plane and picked up this guy. I think this is related to the new procedure by which the passengers' list is provided to the INS before the plane lands.
As we were about to stop at the gate, the captain asks us to remain seated after the aircraft's come to a full stop. After the doors are opened, they announce that "Federal Authorities are on board and looking for a passenger, please remain seated". Ooops. I am never 100% sure to have all my paperwork with me, so I always assume they're looking for me (past experiences with INS have something to do with this).
They walked to the back of the plane and picked up this guy. I think this is related to the new procedure by which the passengers' list is provided to the INS before the plane lands.