Transit / Flight connections Security

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)

  • MartynSinclair
    Participant

    London – Dublin – Philadelphia – Orlando

    1. Security to go airside in T5
    2. Security to go through flight connections at Dublin
    3. Security to through US pre clearance system Dublin

    Orlando – Charlotte – Dublin – London

    1. Security to go airside in Orlando (that’s it)

    Should we Brits be worried or is it just the USA flexing their muscles. Its a shame that the 2 countries can not work with each other to streamline the security process. I also noticed that the US pre clearance team in Dublin were not carrying guns, which was always an issue with them setting up shop in the UK airports…


    K1ngston
    Participant

    Very good points Martyn, the disparity between different airports in the same country also raise so many questions, like the ban on electronic items on flights going into the US now lifted but still in place coming into the UK I believe?

    Who sits where and makes this stuff up???

    The other day I had some suntan lotion taken away because it was in a 125ml container albeit 1/4 full, who decides that 100ml is safe but 125ml isn’t??

    Laptops out, iPads in different in each country the list goes on…. Surely time for a review


    capetonianm
    Participant

    I had travelled on many sectors through a number of countries with an empty (more or less) light aluminium water bottle and never had a problem. One day some meathead at LGW decided I couldn’t take it with me but backed down when I insisted he called his manager.

    Do they not know the rules, or do they make them up as they go along?

    Similarly, a cretin at LGW decided that the bottle was more than 100ml, even though it was half full. “Looks like more than 100ml to me, mate, you’re not taking that….” he kept saying. Of course I did.
    Bottle


    K1ngston
    Participant

    Trouble is capetonianm is that 9 times out of 10 I am the one that end up in trouble as the meatheads they employ are just not capable of “common sense” and I get angry and then get a sense of fun tying them up in circles.. Why, Cos I can and its my way at getting back at them … Oh well it was a quite day 🙂


    TominScotland
    Participant

    I know this comment will generate further ire but, may I humbly suggest, if you see people as ‘meatheads’ and your body language and verbal communications betray such perceptions, they are likely to respond accordingly. Security in a busy airport is hardly a fun job (would you do it?)- I try to be as positive and friendly as I can at all times – mostly it works wonders.


    K1ngston
    Participant

    You can humbly suggest all you like…. I always try and act civilly in whatever interactions I have with people, my comments were aimed at those who clearly are the ones who shouldn’t be dealing with the public in anyway shape or form, and if you haven’t come across them before you are extremely lucky and I am jealous …

    Have a nice day!


    capetonianm
    Participant

    You can humbly suggest all you like…. I always try and act civilly in whatever interactions I have with people, my comments were aimed at those who clearly are the ones who shouldn’t be dealing with the public in anyway shape or form, and if you haven’t come across them before you are extremely lucky and I am jealous …

      Ditto.

    I always start by greeting people pleasantly, whether it’s a cleaner who wipes the table I’m sitting at, the gardener, anybody. I know better than most people, having been an airport duty manager, albeit before security became the idiotic time-wasting obstruction that it is today, that they have a lousy job and have to take a lot of attitude from people.


    travelsforfun
    Participant

    Martyn, I find there is usually a logic to when does and doesn’t pass through transit security, depending on whether the country of origin is deemed to have sufficient security standards (e.g. generally Schengen countries do not rescreen Schengen passengers).

    The oddity in your itinerary is Dublin – why would an arrival from London need to go through transit security – but not one from the US? That makes no sense. But I’m not surprised by the second screening in Dublin on the way out – the US typically requires a higher level of screening – though they could only do away with the first screening if there was a way of separating US connections from non-US connections at the flight connections area.

    Though I can’t say US security processes particularly impress me – their emphasis is sometimes a little too much on being seen to be doing the job than actually doing the job (the continued shoes rigmarole being a case in point).

    The one that always puzzles me is Doha – it seems entirely random whether we’re let out into Arrivals or straight into Departures with seemingly little correlation with the flight origin point.

    The rules on liquids are irritating but ought to be clear; I cannot claim to understand why 100ml is deemed an appropriate threshold for minimising risk but as long they follow the rules correctly, I can live with it. CapetonianM, I have no idea how the cretin can claim a bottle is above 100ml when it is so clearly stated on the label!

    I find the Heathrow cretins have become particularly irritating on liquids – if there’s an item which is questionable – e.g. a water bottle which has a bit too much residue inside – I’ve noticed they now use that as an excuse to do checks wholly unrelated to what they stopped you for – e.g. rummaging through one’s hand luggage, swabbing electrical items. Though maybe it’s just a technique to encourage people to be fully compliant in the first place…

    TominScotland, agreed, I always make an effort to be polite and courteous – and appreciate when I receive the same – in some airports am very pleasantly surprised by the security staff. Sadly at some airports the staff leave a lot to be desired, whether robotic, power-crazed or just jobsworths.


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Is that bottle of Nivea meant to be there, capetonianm?


    FrDougal
    Participant

    Knowing Dublin as I do you should have gone through security again when transferring from your PHL flight to your LHR flight. The customer journey from the flight connections area brings you to security!


    JCB2
    Participant

    I have a 125ml tube of hairgel confiscated, even though it was obvious that there was only about 1/5 of the gel and my colleague was allowed 3 cigarette lighters in their hand luggage.!!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    The security machines are still in place after you show your passport at flight connections but they are cordoned off. Whether or not it is like this for the early USA arrivals only, I don’t know.

    With regards to the second screening before the US pre clearance, I do not agree that it is a more rigorous screening process. It is still carried out by Irish staff and it appears more of a cursory check as if the US are saying, “this is our border, we will carry out another check irrespective”

    Once you pass through the pre clearance, interestingly, US drinking rules apply (in the lounge). You have to be 21 to be served and a separate liquor license for spirits is needed..


    canucklad
    Participant

    Firstly, I’m in agreement with most, and my default position is simply this, everyone’s worth is exactly the same…..it’s just that some get paid more than others.

    And Urban myth or not, I love the NASA cleaners story about his contribution to sending people to the moon. In fact I’m more likely to happily greet people who clean the toilets I use. or serve me breakfast in the morning than behave like some of my sycophantic colleagues who seem to constantly have a brown tipped nose.

    Then again, that’s probably why I’ve not risen to CEO….Yet : )

    Back on topic, and I also find the inconsistencies bewildering.. Why is my picture taken at T5 heading to EDI, yet not taken in the other direction?
    Same shoes, same airport yet baffling I need to wonder “shoes or no shoes” ?
    And then there’s the whole Duty Free thing, when going from A to C via B . Is your £40 export whisky going to get to C?
    And now at EDI, I’m convinced it’s a random, full scan search. I bleep and then I don’t bleep , spooky!


    capetonianm
    Participant

    Since we’re talking security ……….

    Last month I was booked LHR-FRA-CPT. I purchased a litre of ‘duty free’ gin at LHR. I missed my connection at FRA (thank you LH for handling it so badly, County Court summons heading your way) and was rebooked for the next day FRA AMS CPT. I had spent the night in a hotel at FRA.

    Went to check in at FRA and was allowed airside without even showing my passport, because I didn’t have a boarding pass to scan, so the attendant just opened the gate. At security, I fully expected them to confiscate the gin, but because it was in a sealed plastic packet, they allowed it through. Whilst I was obviously pleased, I am also concerned that they think a terrorist wouldn’t be able to produce a sealed plastic bag and an invoice!

    Security ………. a farce. The Israelis do it properly, they racially profile and they don’t give a damn if people say it’s unfair or non-PC.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I have always been told the sealed plastic bag + receipt are valid for transit purposes for the following 24 hours only. If you entered airside +24 hours from purchase at LHR, it should not have been allowed.

    FRA is a perfect example of different security standards within different terminals at the same airport, in the main caused by 2 different contractors, clearly using different interpretations of the procedures (as explained to me a couple of weeks ago in Frankfurt)..

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