eliza61
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2003
- Messages
- 21,023
Just returned from a glorious vacation in Paris, France and Madrid Spain.
Went through the full body scanner once and had 2 pat downs and 1 bag check. Here's my observation
JFK
Left JFK on 5/21 at 6:00 pm for a flight on Iberia airlines to Madrid spain. Terminal was busy but not what I would call packed, maybe 200 people. There was a TSA agent at the begininng of the line. She was directing traffic and fielding questions. She was polite, I wouldn't call her friendly but very thorough and seemed patient when surrounded by more than 1 person lobbing questions at her.
2nd tsa agent at the head of the cue, directing people to the open agent who checked our passport. My agent looked at my papers, checked my pp picture then looked directly at my face, then back to the picture. marked my boarding pass then said "thank you". I stepped up to the conveyor belt put my belongings in a few seperate bins, began them rolling through the xray machine then stepped up to the Scanner. I stepped up to the scanner, raised my arms, spread my legs and followed the instructions. Total estimated time: ~ 2 mins.
My belongs were through the xray machine by this time and they were not within reach but maybe 2 steps away. 2 agents were at the end of each xray machine. whether or not they were actually watching passengers items or not, I don't know. collected my belongs and proceed to my gate. spending a day and 1/2 in Madrid with friends.
Madrid.
5/23. Arrived at Madrid airport for flight to France. here I recieved my first pat down. It was totally random. I did not set off any alarms or any thing. I simply was told to step aside and a female agent asked me to left my arms. She ran both arms down my two arms. with the ridge of her hand she then went down my breast bone. with the back of her hand she felt down my rib cage, flat of my belly (ok my belly's not flat but that's another story) and down my back. with the front of her hand she felt down both sides of my legs. Total estimated time: 45 secs tops!! girlfriend was quick, seriously. my best friend didn't have her shoes back on and I was done.
Paris France, yesterday
Orly international. You do not have to remove your shoes in France. Here my belt sounded the alarm so I got my 2nd pat down. went very much like the one in spain. I also had my leather carryon hand checked.
So, some of my thoughts.
1) If the US is engaged in Security theater then so are France and Madrid. I saw no discernable difference in how their security personal acted from our tsa.
2) all agents were professional but austere. No one gave me a smile but every one did say thank you and I believe I got a "have a nice flight".
3) I saw one family in spain with a newborn. The parents had to remove the newborn from their carriage and requested to remove the blanket from baby and stroller. The parents did not voice a complaint and since they were speaking spanish, I couldn't tell if they were upset or not. no one else seemed to bat an eye.
4)8 hour flights from Europe to the US in coach are brutal and should be banned.
Went through the full body scanner once and had 2 pat downs and 1 bag check. Here's my observation
JFK
Left JFK on 5/21 at 6:00 pm for a flight on Iberia airlines to Madrid spain. Terminal was busy but not what I would call packed, maybe 200 people. There was a TSA agent at the begininng of the line. She was directing traffic and fielding questions. She was polite, I wouldn't call her friendly but very thorough and seemed patient when surrounded by more than 1 person lobbing questions at her.
2nd tsa agent at the head of the cue, directing people to the open agent who checked our passport. My agent looked at my papers, checked my pp picture then looked directly at my face, then back to the picture. marked my boarding pass then said "thank you". I stepped up to the conveyor belt put my belongings in a few seperate bins, began them rolling through the xray machine then stepped up to the Scanner. I stepped up to the scanner, raised my arms, spread my legs and followed the instructions. Total estimated time: ~ 2 mins.
My belongs were through the xray machine by this time and they were not within reach but maybe 2 steps away. 2 agents were at the end of each xray machine. whether or not they were actually watching passengers items or not, I don't know. collected my belongs and proceed to my gate. spending a day and 1/2 in Madrid with friends.
Madrid.
5/23. Arrived at Madrid airport for flight to France. here I recieved my first pat down. It was totally random. I did not set off any alarms or any thing. I simply was told to step aside and a female agent asked me to left my arms. She ran both arms down my two arms. with the ridge of her hand she then went down my breast bone. with the back of her hand she felt down my rib cage, flat of my belly (ok my belly's not flat but that's another story) and down my back. with the front of her hand she felt down both sides of my legs. Total estimated time: 45 secs tops!! girlfriend was quick, seriously. my best friend didn't have her shoes back on and I was done.
Paris France, yesterday
Orly international. You do not have to remove your shoes in France. Here my belt sounded the alarm so I got my 2nd pat down. went very much like the one in spain. I also had my leather carryon hand checked.
So, some of my thoughts.
1) If the US is engaged in Security theater then so are France and Madrid. I saw no discernable difference in how their security personal acted from our tsa.
2) all agents were professional but austere. No one gave me a smile but every one did say thank you and I believe I got a "have a nice flight".
3) I saw one family in spain with a newborn. The parents had to remove the newborn from their carriage and requested to remove the blanket from baby and stroller. The parents did not voice a complaint and since they were speaking spanish, I couldn't tell if they were upset or not. no one else seemed to bat an eye.
4)8 hour flights from Europe to the US in coach are brutal and should be banned.
Dis-moi quelque chose de nouveau - I was replying to PP (see above), not OP.
