Airport security ( Archived) (37)

Yesterday, while going through the security checkpoint at Washington's Dulles Airport, the woman who checked my i.d. looked at me, questioned my name (admittedly, I have an unusual name for a woman), looked at my passport with a miniature magnifier, and then picked up her radio and called for additional security personnel to come over.
I asked her what the problem was and she wouldn't tell me. So, knowing that my name is unusual, I reminded her that I would have to have shown my birth certificate in order to get my passport and told her that I have additional identification, but the passport should have sufficed.
The kicker is that I hold a black passport...a diplomatic passport. In order to have that, I would have had a full background clearance check.
Anyway, she finally succumbed and let me proceed.

I'm all for tight security measures, but COME ON! They will stop someone because their name is different than what they deem acceptable?

Anyone else have some travel stories to share?

Taht will learn ya....

that...

Yeah....how dare I travel with such a name as mine!
I'm going to have to get a fake passport made, apparently...what name should I choose? Kathy Smith? Debbie Jones? Linda Johnson?

My advice for swift and trouble free passport control next time would be ...... don't shave for a few days and put on a deeper voice Frank .....

Jane Doe....

Welllllll....
As I'm not in the habit of shaving my face, that may not help so much!
But I'll work on masculinizing my appearance, just for when I travel. I'll put my hair up under a John Deere or Nascar ball cap, wear a t-shirt with a beer label logo on it, and tuck a Playboy magazine under my arm.

I remember going through passport control in Peshawar, they searched my bags and found a tin of sardines. The guy asked me, "what is this," I told him it was fish but for some reason he didnt believe me. He made me open the tin, smelt it and with an approving nod told me to put it back in my bag. Of course I refused, the sardines were in oil and the tin was now open. I felt a bit silly boarding the plane with my bag in one hand and an open tin of sardines in the other.

I used to be security at the airport.Did that job for many years.There are rules that they have to follow.That have to go to school for two weeks,take all kinds of tests.You don't pass,or get that job till you make a 100 on every test,so its not easy.They send people threw every day to test you to make sure you are doing your job.You have no idea who that person is.If you let something or a person threw that you shouldn't and get caught..1st.time you get a week off..2nd. time you get fired.That job is no laughing matter,peoples lifes are in your hands,so you do every thing you can to keep them safe,I did.The worse part of that job,was strip searchs.People hide stuff and it shows on camera,plus they hide stuff under babys,or people in wheel chairs set on stuff...its not easy to search these people,its all in how you do it with out making them feel bad.You have to wear a badge,because you are on the x-ray machine so much(only 30 minutes at a time)because of ratation.Its a tuff job with very little pay,long hours and it is dangerous....My hats are off to those people..