I’ve been telling people for years in the US “register as a Republican no matter what party you’re really voting for, then the authorities won’t f$%k with you”, and I stuck to that until Bernie ran in 2016, only switching to “unregistered” so I could vote for him in the primaries.
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• flying to Canada
• cheapest possible flight
• afternoon, middle of the week
• everyone else is on business, in business attire
• cheap seat all the way back
• stewardess passing out forms
• get near back of plane
• “I’m so sorry, we ran out of forms, you’ll have to fill one out when we land.”
• ok, sure, whatever
• land
• me and back of plane fill out forms
• they’ve all done this a million times, fill out immediately
• not me
• some obvious questions, then 3 pages asking about agricultural products
• last finished by a long shot
• flagged
• turned back, ticket immediately re-routed
• no more flights to Atlanta
• spend night in jail and talk to judge or go to Chapel Hill NC now
• go there and take a bus home
I’m sure the fact I was on crutches (broke my foot a few days before), in a 3XL Jay-Z t-shirt and a hoodie had nothing to do with it.
I’m so glad I never have any reason to fly. it’s the same as getting processed for jail.
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No matter what you do, you can’t escape personal prejudices.
Roger That!
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I’ve noticed that if I fly to the US (from the UK) on an airline I’ve not been on before I get extra screening. However, the TSA systems are perhaps not all upto scratch, I registered for TSA-pre when it was first offered and still have TSA-pre status if I fly on a US airline. Good if I fly back to Europe or take internal flights. The thing is though, I’m not a US citizen or ever had permanent residency (I lived in the US on a valid visa). I was registered some years ago (it should have expired), I never had an interview and I never paid for it. I’ve travelled with other foreign colleagues and TSA have let them through -pre because I had status. I expect they will catch up with me, but until then…
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This seems to me like a case the ACLU might be interested in.
Or she could make her situation known at Popehat, and Ken might send up the Popehat signal on her behalf.
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This was, I think, three years ago, as well as at least two different states ago. Thanks for the suggestion, but I think that ship has sailed.
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This past Monday my girlfriend flew to Seattle from the Philippines. This is her second visit. The first visit, immigration took less than 5 minutes.
This time they took her to a room away from the normal immigration area. There were about 50 other people there with her. Her flight landed at 10:30 am and they did not let her go until 4:30 pm. This was after flying for 25 hours with little sleep or food. When she left the other 50 people were all gone. As the other people being interviewed left, the cops had nothing to do so one by one they ended up in her interview room. She said at one point she was there with the interviewer and was surrounded by 10 cops. She is 110 lbs.
The interviewer would get obsessed on a small detail and insist it proved she was a liar. For example. When she applied for her tourist VISA she stated she is married (true). She listed his address in Manila (true )and her address in Cebu (true). Divorce is not legal in the Philippines, so most people just move away to separate from a spouse. The embassy saw these details and didn’t feel the need to ask further questions. The guy in immigration insisted she lied on her VISA because she didn’t go out of her way to tell them she was no longer involved with her husband. If they asked, she would have told them. In a VISA interview you answer the questions they give you. You don’t offer extra information they didn’t ask for.
At the very end of the interview, when she had addressed every lie the interviewer could imagine, he said she was free to go and next time don’t lie. Fucking asshole. She disproved every lie he insisted on. But he just had to get in one last dig for, security?
She is a fierce person and would never show any weakness during such an interview. But after it was done and she was in the subway between the international building and the main airport she broke down sobbing uncontrollably. Just before the subway pulled away the guy that had been interviewing her for all these hours hopped on. For the ride between buildings she sat there crying and he sat there trying to avoid making eye contact.
I hope everyone in America feela safer.
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So basically the upshot is, “random” airport security screening that isn’t actually random is because the TSA agents involved are bigoted dipshits, so there really isn’t much that can be done about that. Great.
One has to love unaccountable security services that give their employees enough leeway such that their prejudices become their motivating factor in making decisions. I wonder just how much worse things have gotten under Trump - not even because of any policy changes, but just due to how much freer bigots feel to display their bigotry.
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I stopped flying after the 3 oz liquid theatre started. Taking off shoes was stupid enough, but the liquids ban is a burning bridge of stupid too far. That said, I never once had a US boarding pass that wasn’t marked “SSSS”. Perhaps it is because I refuse to join a political party. Oddly, this is the most logical explanation I’ve ever come across.
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Density sets it off. My hair’s thick enough that I get patted down every time I have to go through the nudescans rather than metal detectors.
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If they actually wanted to start “random” screenings it would be easy to rig up a device that randomly selected people as they passed through the security checkpoint, and specify that any additional passenger screenings had to be justified and documented in some way (i.e., an agent spotted potential contraband in the scanner and has to sign a statement to that effect). So it’s not that they can’t do anything about it so much as they choose not to.
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Here’s one piece of advice that isn’t based on prejudice but actually makes sense: I used to get stopped for full searches all the time, and finally I said something to that effect to the person patting me down, and she very helpfully explained that my full and long skirts – comfortable for me to travel in – could be hiding all sorts of things strapped to the insides of my thighs, etc. I started wearing leggings or elastic-waisted scrubs instead when flying, and it made a significant difference in how often I was pulled aside.
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Yeah - the context was about what, as a traveler, one could do about it, which is nothing. The fact that this is actually a very easily solvable problem just makes it all worse.
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Two or three times, I was wearing a knee length skirt because it was summer. Still got “SSSS”. 
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Even knee length. That’s why I went to pants only.
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If I ever fly in the US again, I’ll give it a try.
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Because the TSA agents involved are bigoted dipshits the system was constructed by bigots as a means of enforcing bigotry, and is working as designed.
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They do have such a device. I’ve been flagged by it occasionally - the metal detector (precheck) beeps after i’ve already stepped through without setting it off, and they pull me aside for a pat-down.
But it seems to be in addition to non-randomly selecting “suspicious”-looking people, unfortunately.
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For ten years solid I was searched every time I flew. Nov 2001 to Nov 2011. The only thing I can figure is that on 9/11 I was in Dubai, UAE. Once ten years hit, it stopped, and I have not been searched since. I would screw around with the pat down dudes, ask them their name and phone number, since I normally have that info when I get that intimate with someone. It was quite fun to see them turn red and get all pissed off, even if it did delay me a little bit more. But on the whole, I prefer the not being searched now 
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