Yesterday at MCO

[Pinnie]

Yesterday my son and DIL flew home from MCO on SWA. At the gate, he was pulled aside along with 2 other passengers by TSA agents and their carry on luggage was searched.

Today I saw on the news that the government is worried that some "trial runs" have already occured.

I am wondering if this was an isolated incident at MCO or is this going to be another standard procedure and we are going to go back to gate searches?

I will be flying next week our of DTW to Houston, San Jose, Ontario, CA and I will be interested to see if this will happen in these places, too.

pinnie

 

[safetymom]

They have been doing random gate searches for awhile now. They might be doing more now because of the news.

 

[bradk]

nothing i'd personally worry about short of the inconveniences. the news is cute. also in the news, DHS is going to stop protecting the insect zoos in the midwest and consider NYC might have a target or two, while cutting LA's portion. and now finally acknowledges that they've done NOTHING in way of the ports and will do something including writing a book or two to tell you what to do if and when something does happen. which is good, since this administration (and the japanese about 65 years ago) have educated us that the 'oceans no longer protect us.'

SNAFU.

 

[Soccerpooh]

We flew home from MCO yesterday too on SWA and saw a gentleman's carryons get searched just as we began boarding. I thought it was odd, because the guy had stood in the "A" boarding line for 45 minutes, and was 2nd in the line. The TSA agents sat at the gate for 10 minutes, and just as boarding began, he got stopped and searched. The flight was only 1/3 full, so there were only A boarding passes, so boarding late was no big deal. But had it been full, he would have wound up boarding with B's. I was curious why they waited until boarding began, instead of doing it 10 minutes earlier? I guess we can't be too overly cautious anymore .

 

[safetymom]

I would imagine that they want to do it as you are boarding so there is no chance that something could be added to the bag. If you do it 10 mins before you could wander around before boarding.

 

[Soccerpooh]

I would imagine that they want to do it as you are boarding so there is no chance that something could be added to the bag. If you do it 10 mins before you could wander around before boarding.

I figured as much, it just stinks for people like him who waited in line 45 minutes to get a choice seat, and was alone. No big deal for those with an assigned seat on another airline though!

 

[kribit]

I think we are going to face this type of random search forever. I just hope the government knows more than I do and are taking the necessary action to protect us.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

Two years ago, after waiting in the Southwest A line forever, we were boarding when my DH was pulled out of line for a search of his carryon and a body search! No idea why, but I got very nervous when the plane was all loaded and he had not shown up yet! I had the flight attendant check on it because I was afraid he would miss the flight. It turns out they also pulled two other men out of line as well! I don't know what is so threatening about a chubby middle-aged man returning home from WDW with his chubby middle-aged wife!

 

[rflorek]

These random searches have been happening for a while - I was selected last year in Las Vegas. I've also seen within the last year at JFK in NYC, Logan in Boston, and at Nashville Airport.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

They did these random searches at the gates a few years ago in Toronto Pearson International Airport and one time my Dad was pulled aside for it just as we were all ready to board the plane. However they no longer do them anymore when flying from there.

 

[budbeerlady]

At the gate they are random, airline A at gate 17 might have 50 passengers boarding and they need to check 5 of them. It is a random thing, often up to the disgression of the airline staff. (I know someone who works the gate for airline A and if you are snarky, rude or mean you "might" just be the person who gets the extra screening.) I hope they do it more often, you can never be too careful or too sure.

 

[bradk]

i'm assuming if you pay the government to be CLEAR (tm) that this won't be an issue for you ever?

ETA: oops, quick google search suggests that might not be the case.

 

[bavaria]

Random gate searches have occured in almost every country to which I have travelled since 2001. At least they are now 'random' in America and not the predictable '2nd pax to board' which occured after 9/11, which meant that all of us frequent flyers would stand back saying 'no, you go first' as we all tried to avoid the non-random search

They did these random searches at the gates a few years ago in Toronto Pearson International Airport and one time my Dad was pulled aside for it just as we were all ready to board the plane. However they no longer do them anymore when flying from there.

Don't be so sure - just because you have not experienced them does not mean that they do not occur. I have flown in/out of almost every major airport in Canada in the last year and have seen them. I have also been the random passenger a few times in the past year.

From Transport Canada's website:

After you have gone through airport security, you and your possessions may be subject to random screening just prior to boarding the aircraft.

I have seen 'random' mean exactly that in many countries although usually in North America the percentage of passengers searched is relatively low. In contrast, in India it consistently appears that about 75-85% of passengers are 'randomly' searched before boarding the aircraft and/or bus to the aircraft.

Going back to the OPs question, this is not in response to the recently leaked announcement (which apparently was just a commonplace bulletin) but has been an ongoing process for several years.

(and on a related note, one has not experienced a real security screening until one has had the pleasure of the invasive 'pat down' that passengers experience in much of Asia and Europe. It goes far beyond a TSA agent using the back of their hand to touch the chest area . No wonder in India the 'ladies security line' is surrounded by a curtain )

 

[bavaria]

i'm assuming if you pay the government to be CLEAR (tm) that this won't be an issue for you ever?

ETA: oops, quick google search suggests that might not be the case.

Before you edited! I was going to post that no, it does not exempt you - I have preclearance under another program and am often selected for secondary screening at the checkpoint and/or at the gate

 

[safetymom]

We used to stand around because it was always passenger #3. Not very random when you can tell who they are going to pick.

 

[bavaria]

And then we would all pass by and chuckle inwardly at the poor person who thought that they would be first to board! I agree - a very poor definition of 'random'!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Random gate searches have occured in almost every country to which I have travelled since 2001. At least they are now 'random' in America and not the predictable '2nd pax to board' which occured after 9/11, which meant that all of us frequent flyers would stand back saying 'no, you go first' as we all tried to avoid the non-random search



Don't be so sure - just because you have not experienced them does not mean that they do not occur. I have flown in/out of almost every major airport in Canada in the last year and have seen them. I have also been the random passenger a few times in the past year.

From Transport Canada's website: After you have gone through airport security, you and your possessions may be subject to random screening just prior to boarding the aircraft.

From my families experiences when they did the random searches at the gates they would announce that it will be happening to let us know about them, so if we were picked it would not catch us by surprise. When they did not announce it at the gates they never did it, because we never saw this happening while others were boarding since our row and the other rows around us were not called to board the plane.

I am not saying the information you found was false or anything, so all I can do is report on what I have seen.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

The random gate searches by TSA have been off for the past month now. They were on following the liquid ban, then off, then on, now off. TSA is not currently conducting these searches at SAN or any other AP at this time. If you've been searched in the past month, it was not part of a structured or planned random additional screening program. Recently TSA has focused on their ADASP program, which screens airport employees entering secure or sterile areas via access doors and other parts of the AOA, including catering and aircraft. Each day they schedule screening at randomly chosen access points or gates during the day, with only a brief heads up to airport operators.

 

[jennib5426]

They did a few random searches on my flight today from Chicago to Richmond. There were a few TSA agents hanging around the gates and when they started to board they pulled a few people out of line and asked for ID. That is all I saw before I boarded.

No big deal, it's to be expected these days. I didn't hear anyone complain.

 

[Pinnie]

Thansk for all your input, guys. I fly regularly and I am surprised that I haven't seen any gate searches at DTW, MDW, BNA recently.

Trust me, I am all for safety but for some reason, I can't wrap my brain around the fact that it will soon be safe to fly with a lighter but not a water bottle from home.

pinnie