Customs officials refuse to allow passengers to debark a domestic flight unless they show ID

boing
22

With the hiring freeze? How can this be?

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23

So within 100 miles of an actual border, or an airport. That sounds like Supai, Arizona might be the only place they don’t have authority.

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24

#Drain the Moat!

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What would have happened to a passenger who declined to show ID? Would they have simply left them on the plane, forever?

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26

I’d be up there giving them a nice flashy Nazi salute while holding up my pocket Constitution.

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27

Not the salute that I had in mind.

And BTW Delta can stick it where the sun don’t shine. Not that I buy Delta tickets that often but never from this point forward.

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28

And hope they explode from the mixed message?

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And it’s ridiculous! Etymologically speaking you can only “disembark” or “debark” from a boat.

No, I know. I know.

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31

Came here to say this. Both the NY and SF airports are international, therefore they are borders. facepalm

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32

The legality of this is certainly questionable since this was a purely domestic flight.

Rolling Stone asked CBP to point to its statutory authority to stop and examine the identity documents of deplaning domestic passengers. The spokesman sent a link to a document titled CBP Search Authority. The document refers to CBP’s authority to inspect international arrivals. Specifically, it cites 19 C.F.R. 162.6, which states, “All persons, baggage and merchandise arriving in the Customs territory of the United States from places outside thereof are liable to inspection by a CBP officer.” The CBP document adds: “CBP has the authority to collect passenger name record information on all travelers entering or leaving the United States.” (Emphasis added.)

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33

It’s much more extensive then that. It’s called “Functional Equivalent of the Border” and most people do not know or understand it.

The good side is: Your flight from Frankfurt to Los Angeles does not have to land the moment it crosses the border and why there are Customs inspectors in Kansas City.

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[quote=“Akimbo_NOT, post:27, topic:95789, full:true”]And BTW Delta can stick it where the sun don’t shine. Not that I buy Delta tickets that often but never from this point forward.
[/quote]

I think we’re quickly running out of feasible airlines.

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35

“Um, none of your fucking business”

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Certainly my knee jerk reaction of course. All U.S. airlines would likely do the same. I do worry about U.S. airlines playing cozy with 45.outside of the usual lobbying efforts.

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This is no different from asking to see the ID of someone getting out of a cab at the airport. Remember, do what Nancy does and just say no.

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GLORY TO ARSTOTZKA.

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39

I’m not understanding how this is Delta’s fault?

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"Delta said it gave permission to CBP to board the flight after contact the agency “to get a sense of why their presence was needed.”

Did they have the option to say no? Based on the Border Search Exception posted above they would not have been able to stop the search anyway. It would have made me feel better about Delta if they had at least tried to refuse.

Ugggggh

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I’ve observed similar things over the past thirty years on trains and buses. CBP agents would walk down the aisle asking people if they were U.S. citizens. If they answered no the agents would request id.

What puzzles me is why? In order to board an aircraft in the USA a passenger must present id. The flight crew has a list of where every passenger is seated. It should be easy to determine who is who without requesting id from everyone.

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