stopped at Heathrow

[Productivity]

So, what's been your favourite being stopped by airport security experience?

Being stopped, taken aside and personally checked at every airport I went to in the US. It's obvious I've made it onto some sort of list (it's not random searching, do a probability calculation and you'll see it gets ridiculously implausible), which means that everytime I go through I get taken aside and searched.

I now avoid travelign to the US - I have nothing against it's people, and I have nothing against random seraches (I support them actually), and I can stretch to targetted searches but I am probably close to the most innocuous person you can get, and I get searched every time. The way the US treats me is poor, so I won't travel there unless I can avoid it.

Sorry for the semi rant, but it really annoys me being viewed as a likely terrorist.

[Red Harvest]

Being stopped, taken aside and personally checked at every airport I went to in the US.

Might be in how/when you booked the flight and who you were or were not with. When I'm flying alone on business and have to book on short notice with credit card on the net...I get singled out for full searches at every damned leg of the flight. It's f****** assinine after the first one or two legs, but it is also obvious that it is some sort of standard profile they have based on age, booking time, booking method, initial flight time, number of folks, luggage etc. Any terrorist with an IQ over 80 could figure out how to probe and circumvent the system. The current profiling does not make me feel more safe.

I try not to fly anything under 500 miles. Isn't worth the time or hassle until I hit about 500. I would rather get the mileage money and save the inconvenience and cancelled flights.

[Productivity]

Do you look even vaguely middle-eastern? Those "Random" checks are almost exclusively done on people who look to be of arab descent.

Nothing like that - as I say I can stretch to targetted searches, but there is nothing to do with me that could be targetted. And after about the 20th search it gets really tiresome. I started getting ready for them after a while - no point wasting their time, they are just doing their job - but it takes quite a bit of the enjoyment out of visiting America for me.

[Red Harvest]

Nothing like that - as I say I can stretch to targetted searches, but there is nothing to do with me that could be targetted. And after about the 20th search it gets really tiresome. I started getting ready for them after a while - no point wasting their time, they are just doing their job - but it takes quite a bit of the enjoyment out of visiting America for me.

Maybe try stripping to your underwear in line while waiting. They would probably wave you on then.

When flying I stopped wearing shoes that had any metal in them (including the metal backed soles.) I also stopped wearing belts and other garments with metal. Nylon zippers and the like make for fairly quick passage. I carry my lowest metal content watch, and I stuff that and change into my carry on before I reach the screeners. Can't do much about the metal still in my ankle but it is non-magnetic (result of taking on three attackers back in my wilder college days, kicked out some teeth, but my ankle wasn't up to the stress.)

Yes it is a serious fun sucker and I can't blame anyone for wanting to avoid it. I used to avoid driving through Oklahoma since the cops always stopped me. They never wrote me any tickets, but they stopped me several trips in a row, so I avoided the state altogether for a few years. I was the right age, riding alone, out of state tags...driving within 5 mph of the speed limit. standard drug carrier profile. I later found that driving 15 mph over resulted in no stops plus I left Oklahoma "sooner."