airport security

meowCat

Hello there,

I went on a little trip to Germany last weekend and on my way back to Ireland, at Frankfurt airport to be precise, and after they x-rayed my carry-on luggage, I got pulled aside and taken to a separate room to have my hair straightener (??!!!) checked for EXPLOSIVES!

I didn't make a scene or anything and am actually happy they are so careful.

However, I'm just wondering now, how many incidents have there been with explosives in hair straighteners or something like that. Any boardsie working at airport security perhaps?

Also, did you ever have any such experiences at any airport?

aidan_walsh

Just be lucky you didn't try to take a bicycle aboard...

youcancallmeal

Afaik they are obliged to do a certain amount 'thorough' searches in a any given day, Must of been a slow day for you?

Voodu Child

You must have had a big mad head of hair, and the hair straightener looked suspicious...like a blind man reading a newspaper...

Ruu_Old

Which airport in Frankfurt..Main was it?
Sure they search people in Dublin airport before flying to the states. I love getting searched and pray that it happens to me, always does too. The reason being you get out of the massive queue and when they are finished going through your bag you get put into the security check-in line, nice and short.

jimmycrackcorm

meowCat wrote:

Hello there,

I went on a little trip to Germany last weekend and on my way back to Ireland, at Frankfurt airport to be precise, and after they x-rayed my carry-on luggage, I got pulled aside and taken to a separate room to have my hair straightener (??!!!) checked for EXPLOSIVES!

I didn't make a scene or anything and am actually happy they are so careful.

However, I'm just wondering now, how many incidents have there been with explosives in hair straighteners or something like that. Any boardsie working at airport security perhaps?

Also, did you ever have any such experiences at any airport?

they probably looked at you and thought - either she is a grumpy looking terrorist or a woman who has pms and decided not to take any chances...

drdre

thats good to hear they are doing some checking. in dublin they make you takeoff your shoes:eek: .

kaimera

Make you take yer shoes of in Atlanta aswell.

Ehh, haven't been checked for explosives but I did get checked twice before even departing Ireland, once more at Shannon re_boarding the plane, and finally once again in Newark. All including a nice 20min wait to be questioned at emmigration.

Why? ****ed if I know. Single white male perhaps.

BigWilly

voodoo_child wrote:

You must have had a big mad head of hair, and the hair straightener looked suspicious...like a blind man reading a newspaper...

LOOOOOL




BigWillyStyle

Lump

drdre wrote:

thats good to hear they are doing some checking. in dublin they make you takeoff your shoes:eek: .

Only cause the sun sneaked a "Bomb" past them a while back.

I was tempted to announce that to a security person, but I didn't fancy a cavity search

John

Kobie

It's all bollocks anyway. They can't detect plastic explosives in your shoes with their metal detectors so they make you take them off to be x-rayed. So if any would-be terrorists out there want to smuggle plastic explosives through Dublin airport, just put them in your pockets lads.

Dooom

You know the way there's always one guy at the airport that ALWAYS gets searched?
That's me.

Every single airport, never fails. Only pat-downs and bag searches though.
Beats me as to why it happens, but I've gotten used to it by now so it doesn't really bother me.

Out of curiosity, can you refuse a cavity search? I'm definately throwing up one hell of a fight if some lad wants to shove his hand up my arse.
Glove or no glove.

biko

A workmate of mine from Tunisia always get selected for extra thorough searches. We usually fly together to US for conferences and tradeshows etc and they never even give me a second glance but you can actually see the light in their eyes come on when they see him.
I always have to carry his guns and C4 for him

Binomate

Always act as suspicios as possible, just for the laugh.

Dooom

Binomate wrote:

Always act as suspicios as possible, just for the laugh.

Well, it might be a bit awkward trying to get through an airport in a ninja suit. Although I'm tempted to try it now.
Could always just say it's my native clothing, from my native country of Nin- KERRRCHOPP! And the guard is out cold. Booya.

Guy:Incognito

For the most part in dublin they seem to have stopped the shoe thing. On the way to Liverpool on Friday it was belts and for the odd person, shoes as well, no personal pat down. Again on the way to Liverpool last Oct it was shoes belts and a pat down On the way back in John Lennon airport it was just the standard walk through teh metal detector but with one diff, they make you stand on a different colour floor tile and take your pic, then print a barcode and stick it to your boarding card. It wasnt scanned into anything after that tho.

On the way back from Germany in August we got the full treatment just as you go through the first security where people without boardign cards have to turn back. We got patted down after shoes and belts came off. Then again the same thing at the gate.

angeldelight

They seem to have mostly stopped making you take your shoes off in Dublin, I was passing through a few times in the last few times and only had to go through the metal detector. A few people who set it off were asked to take their belts and shoes off and go through again if there was metal in either of them but that was it.

I was actually surprised with JFK in New York... I was expecting really stringent checks but all they did was same as Dublin, x-rayed shoes if they set off the metal detector, otherwise it was very relaxed, even people who set it off after taking shoes and belts and everything with metal off just got a really cursory pat down and that was it, no fuss

Attol

They were totally random at Dublin last Sunday. I was travelling to Birmingham and had to take my laptop out of my bag before it went in the xray. There were guys wearing cowboy boots with buckles and heels and they got to keep them on but I was asked to take off my Uggs before walking through the machine. All UK airports seem to take pictures of all passengers.

meowCat

voodoo_child wrote:

You must have had a big mad head of hair, and the hair straightener looked suspicious...like a blind man reading a newspaper...

good one voodoo_child!

Ruu wrote:

Which airport in Frankfurt..Main was it?
I love getting searched and pray that it happens to me, always does too.

You just love the patting, don't you

and yes, it was Franfurt Main.
The other one isn't really Frankfurt anyway. It's closer to Luxembourg than to Frankfurt!

And they actually checked everyone twice. The second time before the gate and it was even more careful than the first time.

But in Dublin itself, at least last Saturday morning, everyone had to take off their shoes....just because some mentioned that things got lazy there recently.

Ruaidhri

meowCat wrote:

Hello there,

I went on a little trip to Germany last weekend and on my way back to Ireland, at Frankfurt airport to be precise, and after they x-rayed my carry-on luggage, I got pulled aside and taken to a separate room to have my hair straightener (??!!!) checked for EXPLOSIVES!

Could it of been a miss-translation? As in were they looking for something which could explode. Like a canister of gas? That you get for hair curlers? Do gas powered hair straighteners exist?

Long shot i know, but at a guess I'd say that's what they were looking for.

_blank_

LadyLotts wrote:

They were totally random at Dublin last Sunday. I was travelling to Birmingham and had to take my laptop out of my bag before it went in the xray.

That isn't random, that is the norm in all airports in the world as far as I know. I've seen it on signs in London, Dublin, Bangkok, HongKong, Sydney and Melbourne.

Had to take my shoes off in Dublin, nowhere else. Got my pic taken in Bangkok, nowhere else. A dog does a sniff of every piece of baggage after you collect it in Sydney, and if you have drugs or explosives it doesn't go apesh*t barking all over the place, they are trained to just sit down beside the bag, then the officers walk off and come back without the dog and quietly ask you to come with them. I've seen it happen.

The Airport in Koh Samui, Thailand, was great, three or four thatched huts and a runway.

DaSilva

Actually ive noticed Frankfurts Lufthansa airport have been the most suspicious in my case, both times ive gone through there i was searched, first time was the foil in my smoke box made the arch-metaldetector thing go off (reason i didnt put smokes in the tray was dad didnt know i smoked at the time ) and second time was because of my belt buckle, even tho I asked the guy do i need to take off my belt he said no, and still then i got searched, they even did a joey search on me and pushed it to the side when going up my leg was a bit disturbing.

I dont mind it security like that, its a small price to pay for a safer flight in fairness.

Worst airport for security ive been in was Ben Gurian in Tel Aviv Israel. We went through 3 x-rays and same with luggage before we got on the flight, and after the second x-ray they opened everyones carry on luggage and searched it all. They also do some sort of profiling while your in the que, they come up to every person and ask them about their visit etc, and then you get given a sticker, green blue or yellow i think, green means your fairly ok, gonna be the standard security (which is still tough by most airports standards). We got a green sticker, but the girl infront of me got a difirent one. Man I felt bad, my dad had explained what to say and what not to say to the profiler guy because he travels their often. The girl in front who was english had been their visiting her friend who was living with an israeli guy, and she also said she had met up with some english people on the visit and spent some time with them, she pointed him out in the que, and he had that "oh ****" look on his face. I noticed after going through security myself, a little while after the english girl came out of a security cubicle crying she had obviously gotten the full on search because of what she said. Felt bad for her, was no chance she was dangerous in anyway (except for the accent ) but i guess she just said all the wrong things.

Shanghai pudong airport has a cool thing, theres a little asian guy in a labcoat at one area, where you walk through a gate, and theres like a cctv camera pointed at the gate, after i went through i looked back to see what was on the TV connected to the camera, i saw it was some sort of X-ray or something, and you could see the peoples skeletons and outlines of their clothes as they walked through, looked cool

Ruu_Old

I believe it was the US who started the whole taking off the shoes thing. They stopped it for a while because it was embarassing people but they have started it up again as far as i know.
There must be a code red or something out for me because im always checked in Dublin. Big siren goes off when my name goes through the computers

paconnors

i remember when i went through newark last time they made me take of my shoes and after i had gone through the metal detector they were spraying the area with air freshiner as my feet were a bit sweatty and gave off a bit of a pong , had to laugh after

Flying out again to the us on Tuesday so i wonder will it happen again

Mossy Monk

DaSilva wrote:

i saw it was some sort of X-ray or something, and you could see the peoples skeletons and outlines of their clothes as they walked through

kind of like Total Recall

had my shoes removed in Dublin and picture taken in Stanstead, thats it. i want to go through that full body x-ray sometime

Our man in Havana

They probably have your pic up on the wall of dodgy looking Irish, Mossy!

godtabh

I was flying from toronto to NY in 2003. A infront of me was asked to take out his laptop and turn it on. The man started to complain saying he would have to pack it up and all this crap and it was gona delay him. As the argument went on more and more airport police gathered and the more armed they got.

When he did finally take out the laptop it wouldnt turn on. The airport police got worried cause they started moving evey one back. We got moved on to another part of the airport while he got sorted.

Every one thought he had a bomb on it. Luckily enough he didnt.

Lump

LadyLotts wrote:

They were totally random at Dublin last Sunday. I was travelling to Birmingham and had to take my laptop out of my bag before it went in the xray. There were guys wearing cowboy boots with buckles and heels and they got to keep them on but I was asked to take off my Uggs before walking through the machine. All UK airports seem to take pictures of all passengers.

That's to ensure you don't change your boarding card with anyone, between check in and the long walk to the gate.

John

connundrum

On the way back from Varna airport last summer I was stopped and called to one side by the security guy. I started brickin it cos we had done the customary "make jokes about having a bomb on you" thing in the que for the x-ray machine. Just as I was preparing my Please don't Ass Rape Me speech he asked me to open my bag and take out the banned object. Banned object?!?! A pair of fcukin scissors :rolleyes:

But apart from me there were loads of people called by the security and made open their bags out on the runway. I guess there must've been a huge number of BB guns heading for our shores that summer

Lump

I never understand the banned object. Fair enough explosives gas etc.... but scissors! If I was going to kill someone with a nail scissors, I could easily do the same job with a pencil/pen/plastic knife/fork. Or if that failed, strangle them with my scarf! BAN THEM!!!!!

John

rubadub

at last they have stopped taking every single persons shoes off in dublin airport, still take plenty off though. And all because ONE bomber smuggled something in his shoe. I pray for the day a female bomber smuggles somthing in her bra, "right ladies, take em all off"


What was that film where the airport security guy says "but every once in a while, its a dildo"

Another thing is that once past the detectors in most airports you can then go into the shopping area and pick up all sorts of weaponry at nice discount prices too. Nice cutlery from restaurants, aerosols & lighters. Beer bottles. I would rather be attacked with a nail clippers than a flame thrower or broken whiskey bottle.

connundrum

Lump wrote:

I never understand the banned object. Fair enough explosives gas etc.... but scissors! If I was going to kill someone with a nail scissors, I could easily do the same job with a pencil/pen/plastic knife/fork. Or if that failed, strangle them with my scarf! BAN THEM!!!!!

John

According to this we shouldn't carry anything at all :rolleyes: I love this bit -

"Take along a pre self-addressed stamped padded envelope in case you've mistakenly packed something that security won't allow you to take on-board. Most security personal will allow you to place the object in a mailer and use airport postal centers to mail it to yourself."

As if...

irlrobins

Mossy Monk wrote:

kind of like Total Recall

had my shoes removed in Dublin and picture taken in Stanstead, thats it. i want to go through that full body x-ray sometime

Everyone has their pic taken in the major UK airports. As they ask for your passport when u enter the departure area they take a pic with a camera. Then when you board the plane they check the pic they took matches with the person boarding the plane.

HelterSkelter

drdre wrote:

thats good to hear they are doing some checking. in dublin they make you takeoff your shoes:eek: .

The last time I went through Dublin (3 weeks ago) I didn't have to take off my shoes. I hope they have finished with that nonsense which is just window dressing to make the passengers feel like it is more secure than it really is.

robinph

All UK airports seem to take pictures of all passengers.

The taking a photo you at the security check was very common in UK airports for me until about the beginning of 2005 and then they seemed to stop doing it. They would only every do that for flights to Ireland and the Isle of Man though and not bother with any ither destinations.

Dublin seems to be the only airport that I'm going through much recently that needs laptops out of their bags as now where else seems to care. Just hope that they never ask me to turn my laptop on though as the battery is completely dead and it only works on mains power now.

I am constantly dissapointed that my hand luggage is never searched after going through the scanner though. The one time in Shannon when they asked me in a seperate check if I had anything sharp on me I then showed them the needles and they then left me on my way. But the needles are never picked up on the scanner.

The_Conductor

Brussels airport is still big on footwear. They don't make you take off your shoes though- they have a little metal detector thingy- you have to stand on it (it looks like an outsized weighing scales) and if it goes off- then you're shoes get checked.

I have pins in my legs, one ankle and feet- and always set those bloody things off.

Picture the confused security people when my bare feet set their machines off (I make a point of standing on the machine again after they make me take off my shoes). When I explain in poor French what the story is they do get a laugh though. You'd have thought that I wasn't the only one with this problem- it happens every single bloody time though......

On a similar note- its more difficult trying to get into any of the Commission buildings/Parliament etc over there- than any airport I've been through (with the exception of Zurich and the nightmares I have of Israel......)

My family went on holiday in Israel some years ago (before the last intafada really blew up) and stayed all over the place including in the West Bank (my father used to work for international organisations that were attempting to better things for the Palestinians). On leaving the family were seperated by security and my smallest sister (she was then 5 or 6) was taken to one side by a female security guard who plied her with sweets and came across as absolutely lovely. She asked her- if she had visited any nice Palestinian houses........ Needless to say we missed the flight....... They photocopied all Dad's notes (they were unable to read his hand-writing) and we were all interviewed for hours on end. Eventually after Dad was able to make a phone call security were called off, apologised and let us leave.

HelterSkelter

irlrobins wrote:

Everyone has their pic taken in the major UK airports. As they ask for your passport when u enter the departure area they take a pic with a camera. Then when you board the plane they check the pic they took matches with the person boarding the plane.

This doesn't happen in Heathrow. I have found the security there is very lax. My ID (Driving Licence) wasn't even checked last time.

*Tripper*

"Anything that vibrates is checked for explosives. Most of the time is an electric razor but every once in awhile its a dildo"
Fight Club

LundiMardi

i was padded down once.... sensual.

Willymuncher

drdre wrote:

thats good to hear they are doing some checking. in dublin they make you takeoff your shoes:eek: .

Its the same in Shannon, Chicago, Oklahoma, Dallas FW and Atlanta....so I guess they do the shoe thing in a lot of airports.

Only time I've ever been searched was in Manchester, they were a little suspicious of me for some reason.

el tel

There are loads of items that can double up as weapons on sale in the shops beyond the security screening areas and in the duty free so in most cases these searches are pointless.

Jumpy

seansouth wrote:

That isn't random, that is the norm in all airports in the world as far as I know. I've seen it on signs in London, Dublin, Bangkok, HongKong, Sydney and Melbourne.

Had to take my shoes off in Dublin, nowhere else. Got my pic taken in Bangkok, nowhere else. A dog does a sniff of every piece of baggage after you collect it in Sydney, and if you have drugs or explosives it doesn't go apesh*t barking all over the place, they are trained to just sit down beside the bag, then the officers walk off and come back without the dog and quietly ask you to come with them. I've seen it happen.

The Airport in Koh Samui, Thailand, was great, three or four thatched huts and a runway.

THe Sydney dogs smell out fruit.

Thats pretty much all they find. The beagles anyway.

irlrobins

Willymuncher wrote:

Its the same in Shannon, Chicago, Oklahoma, Dallas FW and Atlanta....so I guess they do the shoe thing in a lot of airports.

Yea they're big on the shoe thing in US airports. Was in DFW last year and was a bit fed up having to take my shoes off (had been thru a few US cities over the 2 weeks). Saw a sign saying "Passengers are not required to remove their shoes but we appreciate it." So decide not to bother this time.

As I pass metal detector security guard asks me to remove my shoes. I pointed at sign and said I thought I didn't need to: Bad Idea! Was pulled over to one side and was patted down, carry on bag opened and emptied, etc. Also had a box of beignet mix in the bag which looked just like a bag of coke! Thankfully once I explained what it was and where I got it he left it alone.

Also weird to see signs around where you check your bags into the xray machine stating "Please inform TSA official if your hold luggage contains a firearm." Texans and their guns! :rolleyes:

zen63

Domodedovo in Moscow has the coolest security scanner I have ever been through. You stand into a cubicle which closes and a light comes on - then a scanner moves down the cubicle, then you get out. You dont take off coats shoes, or any of the normal annoyances.

It was really Total Recall.

rubadub

LundiMardi wrote:

i was padded down once.... sensual.

The trick is to dress up as a woman and act suspicious. Then a woman will have to frisk you and find your "weapon"

Megatron

Only hastle i've ever got was in Las Vegas.

I was seemingly picked out fo a full scurity check ( thankfully no cavity search) as was my Dad.

So again , remove the shoes , show the holes in your socks and then the secuirty guy asks me to remove all my carry on stuff.

So i do , a laptop is there which he asks me to strip down ( i even had to take out the poxy memory) , Now the Laptop had a bit of a accident , i had dropped a load of beer all over it, i explained this to the security gaurd and got no response .. he wandered off left me standing there, came back aobut 5 mins later with 2 armed guards... I then had to explaine how this had happened ( i'm a dumb ass is that what you want me to say .. thank fully i just said that in my head) , and why i had brought the Laptop with me ... so i made it out of the security checkpoint with 15 mins to get to my gate .. thankfully las vegas is a tiny place so didnt' take more than 5 mins to get there.


I find the quickest way to stop a security check when in the uk as it mention that the only reason your being checked is becuase your Irish ...

japanpaul

I nearly got caught bringing a little bit of weed into Pisa airport from Brussels a few days after September 11th.
I had it in my suitcase and hadn't touched it for at least 24 hours but the dog still smelt it from my hands. They searched us before we got our bags so I flushed it down the toilet before I went through passport checks. Lucky because we got the full strip search there:o
Since then any airport I go through I ALWAYS get searched. Landed in Tokyo 2 years ago and my friend walks straight through, I get stopped and have to take everything out of my suitcase. Went on a holiday to Thailand with the same friend and when we arrived back to Tokyo my bag got the sniffer dog treatment.
Coming home for my sisters wedding last summer stopped in Seoul and cute security lady said "can I put my hands in your trousers?" I think she meant on!! Still, it was nice to be asked:cool:

6ix

I was singled out a number of times last summer in some airports in the US. Apparently, its on your boarding pass, those who are to be searched are pre selected. The guy in LA showed me the special marking on the pass.

San Francisco was the most interesting, they put you into a cylindrical cubical with glass doors either side. Inside you're sprayed with jets of air (quite powerful -- my gf was told to hold down her top). This was experimental at SFO the time, apparently there is a sensor at the top of the cubical which can detect minute chemical traces of explosives.

Was something different at least. What I find funniest is how suspicious they are. As the guy was searching my hand luggage, I got up from my seat to fix my belt & he freaked out -- 'Sir, please remain seated -- SIT DOWN SIR.

blorg

LadyLotts wrote:

They were totally random at Dublin last Sunday. I was travelling to Birmingham and had to take my laptop out of my bag before it went in the xray.

Everyone has to take their laptop out since time immemorial. I think the idea is that as they are complex pieces of electronics they want it flat on the belt with nothing else in the way so they can get a good view.

blorg

Going through Gatwick once with a McDonald's in a brown paper bag (didn't have any markings if I recall, strange.) Set off the metal detector (belt, probably) and was asked by an edgy security person "what is in the bag, sir?" Went to open it and he yells "Stop! Put the bag down!" Needless to say he was amused when he opened it himself.

Once bought a "magic box" in Paris as a Christmas present. This is a wooden box that you have to have to rotate in a certain pattern to get it to open. Of course it does this through a complex mechanism of gravity bolts in the lid which looked very interesting indeed when viewed on the x-ray machine. It was all wrapped up but at least I managed to explain what it was enough that they didn't make me unwrap it.

Another time leaving France I had purchased quite a quantity of Lindt (it is a lot cheaper in France ;-) and had this packed at the top of my bag. So with the foil this appeared on their machine as some sort of layered metal cube. They looked at me somewhat strangely when they opened the bag and pulled out 20 bars of chocolate. They were also very interested in a the contents of a wrapped cylinder of mini-jam jars...

holly_johnson

I'm a regular traveller to the States, and every time I go I get the shoe thing, both in Dublin, then New York and again in Orlando.
I don't mind this too much, I just feel sorry for the searchers, the smell of 100+ weary travellers feet can't be too pleasant.

The only time i had an objection was when my daughter was 1 and a half and we were going home through Boston. They did the usual search thingy then tried to take my daughter out of my arms. I said no (obviously) and they got really thick, shouting at me that I was to hand over the child. I said no way, why did you want me to and they wouldn't answer anything, just tried to take her. She was bawling at this stage. A female officer came over and was a bit better, saying they wanted to check her over. I said for what and she said bombs! I couldn't believe this I said she's only a baby etc.
In the end they ended up looking in her nappy! I went ballistic. How pervy is that! Pity she hadn't left a nice welcoming present for them
Needless to say I have never and will never travel via Boston again!