41–50 of 185 posts
When you arrive from an international flight at Atlanta airport, you have to go through security to get out of customs because there is no direct exit out to the street. In other words, when you arrive and go through border control and customs, the only way to get out of the airport is to go through the other terminals. I wonder if the same applies at Cincinnati/N. Kentucky airport.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't been through a TSA checkpoint when landing in the US, but it might depend where you fly from. The airport I usually enter the US from, Schipol (Amsterdam), has the backscatter machines installed at the gates (not the terminal checkpoints)... it is clear that they are only used to meet USA conditions. It might be that flying from a country that is not bowing to pressure from the TSA requires a security scan…
I think he means on arrival in the US, not before you get on the plane.
The only rational explanation I can come up with would be if the airport layout demanded this - but it seems unlikely.
This also seems like something that the author or someone with authority would have mentioned, as it's a deal-breaker that would likely have diffused the situation immediately.
I agree entirely with the author's cause and I believe that the guilty-until-proven-innocent mindset of present airport security is wrong and should be unconstitutional. However, upon reading the article I very much got the impression that the author was refusing to be scanned or searched just to make trouble. When asked why he was refusing to be searched, his answers (in his own writing) seemed to be along the lines…
That's like saying, you are just making trouble when you resist a pick-pocket or robber. You are never "just making trouble" when you assert your rights. On the contrary, government is the one just making trouble.
The only legitimate purpose of government is to protect rights. However, government seems to be full of people who are eager to take away rights. Somehow, the institution of government appeals to people who like to force their will on others. If you value liberty, you must resist these people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think he means on arrival in the US, not before you get on the plane.
I think his point is that some other countries don't take the latest TSA requirements seriously, and if you come from one of those countries, the TSA will screen you because of that.
Then again - my experience travelling says this has a lot more to do with airport layout dictating security procedure more than anything else - some airports seem to change policies every time I fly - one time I have to collect my bags, the next I don't, the next I can actually just catch an international connection, the next time I can't without getting my bags, etc (all through the same airport through the past few years)
Does anyone know why the TSA even gives you the choice to opt out of the backscatter machines? You can't opt out of the metal detectors. It seems like the default policy would be for the new machines to be mandatory as well.
Metal detectors are non-invasive, efficient, don't take naked pictures of you, and you are still supposed to opt-out if you have something like a pacemaker where the metal detector represents a possible health risk.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand the point of that point. If the reason for the X-ray machines is to stop people from smuggling dangerous materials onto planes and using them to cause harm, scanning people after they get off the plane is the most literal analogue I've ever seen for shutting the barn door after the horses have fled. Imagine a daycare center that had a policy of running background checks on its employees only once t…
I'm guessing the issue is that the physical layout of the terminal is designed under the assumption that everyone arriving on an international flight is connecting to a domestic flight, and CVG was not their final airport. In that case, they want people screened by US personnel against US policies before boarding those domestic flights. It still seems like a waste of time and money for the TSA to screen people who ar…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm guessing the issue is that the physical layout of the terminal is designed under the assumption that everyone arriving on an international flight is connecting to a domestic flight, and CVG was not their final airport. In that case, they want people screened by US personnel against US policies before boarding those domestic flights. It still seems like a waste of time and money for the TSA to screen people who ar…
I don't do much (hardly any) international travel, but in my experience, in US airports the international arrivals and domestic departures are physically separate security zones. You can't get off an international flight and hop on a domestic flight without going through security again.
Gate -> Corridor -> Customs -> International Baggage Claim (Explicitly so you can get your bags re-screened by US personnel) -> TSA screening -> airport concourse -> onward travel via domestic gates / onward travel via international gates / exit
The last time I went through this was from a flight from AMS. So coming from Schipol does not free you from the requirement to reclear security on the way out of the airport.
The International and Domestic security zones are not distinct, all international arrivals are required to be re-screened by US personnel before rejoining the regular security zone, no matter which onward destination.
Really lucky. That situation could have easily turned into a 6 hour detention regardless of legal rights (which are already being ignored)
I fully agree with most of the civil liberties and health concerns I've been reading online about these "Federal Security Detectors," and it certainly is ridiculous that you have to be scanned AFTER flying and AFTER passing through customs just to get home from the airport, but seeing as TSA agents are really just there to carry out policy given to them from their superiors, it seems a little silly to claim that such…
For anyone else trying to prevent a gate-rape freedom-fondle, do not try the "less clothes" approach, this one ended with an arrest:
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&...
There is also some documentation now that the scanners produce TWENTY times the claimed radiation level: