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  • Airport sighting (border sighting too)

    my boyfriend flew home a couple of days ago. during one of his layovers he called to talk.

    I had stayed around at the airport long enough to watch him go through security and then I left.

    What I didn't know is that they screened him two more times after that.


    Apparently being half of Polish/half Filipeno descent, not shaving for a few days, carrying military style packs, and a military tshirt means he's dangerous.


    I shouldn't be surprised though. Just last Sunday when we came back from Canada the border patrol guy grilled him on his shirt (another military shirt) while another guard went through one of his packs in the trunk.

    Though at least the guard grilling him admitted it was because he felt my boyfriend looked foreign. Heck... they didn't even look at me twice.



    I guess that proves it's true - guys... shave before you go on a flight or cross a border.

  • #2
    I always shave before I travel. But none of the security people ever check my ass
    anyway so i may stop doing it.


    "All I've ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who out-drew ya"

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    • #3
      Quoth PepperElf View Post
      I guess that proves it's true - guys... shave before you go on a flight or cross a border.
      you could just say, guys should shave

      <- does not like facial hair
      If you wish to find meaning, listen to the music not the song

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      • #4
        Quoth PepperElf View Post
        I guess that proves it's true - guys... shave before you go on a flight or cross a border.
        Either shave clean or trim your beard neatly. Try not to look like you just got out of a 10-day sentence for drunk and disorderly, k?
        What colour is the sky in your world and how high of a dosage do you need before it turns back to blue? --Gravekeeper

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        • #5
          It also helps to look like your passport picture. By the way, the linked video is not in English.
          "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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          • #6
            A couple years ago, I was dating a Jewish woman.

            We went to Seattle for the weekend. She had a tattoo in Hebrew on her wrist.

            The border guards thought it was Arabic, So we were kept in customs for 3 and a half hours until an Arabic translator could show up. He arrives, takes one look, and says "I don't know what that is, but it's not Arabic."

            At this point, one of the customs guys, who has been there the whole time, looks over and says "Oh, thats Hebrew. It says <Hebrew word I can't remember, and never could pronounce correctly.> It means peace and luck."

            Which was exactly what we'd been saying for hours.

            Then they made us wait another 90 minutes until a Hebrew translator arrived to confirm it.
            After he did, they made is wait another hour just for the hell of it before they let us go.
            Aliterate : A person who is capable of reading but unwilling to do so.

            "A man who does not read has no advantage over a man who cannot" - Mark Twain

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            • #7
              I am an Australian (living in Tokyo) of British decent, i look like my passport photo- I don't look a mess despite jetlag...

              at San Fransisco airport (on my first trip to the US) I was searched, detained, screamed at by an officer who saw the initial IBO on some documents in my bag.... 2 hours later, it was confirmed what I had already told him - it meant International Baccalaureate Organisation (ie International Education) and that I was in transit to a workshop. It happened on my way back too...

              It took me 3 years to even contemplate returning to the US - but never, NEVER will I book a flight that goes through San Fransisco again.

              I have made the journey back to the US, via Toronto - and was searched once but politely and sent on my way with a 'have a good day, sir'.
              Last edited by Damien; 08-01-2009, 02:31 AM. Reason: spelling

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              • #8
                Yeah, the tourist crossing in toronto (god, don't go near Buffalo) is supposedly the best in that area.

                I just get really tired of being detained by those assholes, myself. My passport's flagged- with what, I don't know, nobody will tell me. Any time I cross the border, I'm stuck for at least an hour while they fuck with my car/bags/whatever. I've even had 'em demand that I turn out my pockets so they can search my wallet.

                I think border guards are where you go if you can't make it as a mall cop. (No offense to our mall security people- but you wouldn't let these idiots in, I'm sure)
                "Joi's CEO is about as sneaky and subtle as a two year old on crack driving an air craft carrier down Broadway." - Broomjockey

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                • #9
                  If you are constantly stoppped and searched when travelling in the US, it probably means somebody with your name is on the no-fly list.

                  Yes, it's by name, not full identity. Stupid isn't it?

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                  • #10
                    I once got extra screening in ABQ because...I dropped my ID and boarding pass and (stupidly) exited the secure area when I didn't find it in the gate area. I still had some sort of ID, but because they issued a new boarding pass I guess that put me on the "extra attention" list. I was understandably nervous, but the screener seemed to know why (and I learned that a powered-on cell phone can come up positive on one of those bomb-swabby things, or at least mine did).

                    Turned out a concession owner had found it and held onto the thing for 20 minutes before deciding to give it to an agent (grrr).

                    That's why I have two state IDs now; if I do something dumb and drop one, I have a backup until the first one is found or replaced (I don't feel comfortable carrying my passport everywhere if not absolutely required).
                    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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                    • #11
                      Oh, that reminds me: I got frisked in Salt Lake City at the security checkpoint before my flight home!

                      That was probably because I had my wallet in my front pocket and it created sort of a suspicious bulge.
                      Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                      "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Arm View Post
                        Yeah, the tourist crossing in toronto (god, don't go near Buffalo) is supposedly the best in that area.
                        I don't typically have issues when crossing, but I was 'paused' in Buffalo. I went up to see a friend who was a student at UB, and to help with costumes for a fan film he was working on. We rode bikes to Niagra, got in fine, but then on the way back out, the agent looked at my Colorado ID and passport (yeah, I brought it with me just in case) and my friend's NY ID.

                        "How do you two know each other?" he asked gruffly.
                        "We dress up like Star Wars characters! I'm Leia and he's Luke!" I reply cheerfully. It's the truth. That's how I met my friend.
                        I could see the agent's brain gears skip a few times before reseating themselves. He glared at me, handed back our IDs and waved us through.

                        The next day we're taking 2 cars full of gear and people into Canada for filming (if Stargate is filmed in Canada, why not a Stargate fan film?) I'm in the first car and we tell the gate agent that both cars are together. The agent seems skeptical. "What business do you have in Ontario today?"
                        Before anyone else can speak up, I pipe in "We're filming a Stargate Fan Film in a park!"
                        Yet again, brain gears skip a cycle or two, then she waves us through.

                        So I think being a geek is a sort of customs cock block.

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                        • #13
                          Quoth PepperElf View Post
                          Apparently being half of Polish/half Filipeno descent, not shaving for a few days, carrying military style packs, and a military tshirt means he's dangerous.
                          And here I would have assumed he was military... Guess that's why I'm not a border guard...
                          I don't go in for ancient wisdom
                          I don't believe just 'cause ideas are tenacious
                          It means that they're worthy - Tim Minchin, "White Wine in the Sun"

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                          • #14
                            Just goes to show you how stupid "profiling" really is. It's like we constantly have to have "The Boogeyman" to run and hide and be afraid of and cower in fear from. The only problem is that the "Boogeyman" seems to keep morphing into totally different people at every whim.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Arm View Post
                              I think border guards are where you go if you can't make it as a mall cop. (No offense to our mall security people- but you wouldn't let these idiots in, I'm sure)
                              Sorry, but do you know how dangerous that job can be? Maybe not on the Canadian border, but down here, it's a damn dangerous job. Every now and then, some of them will get shot at in El Paso....from across the river in Juarez.

                              Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                              I once got extra screening in ABQ because...I dropped my ID and boarding pass and (stupidly) exited the secure area when I didn't find it in the gate area.
                              Heh, I got to go through the body scanner that they're testing at the Sunport last week on our way out.

                              Let's see, I've been through 3 security checkpoints (Sunport, JFK, EDI) and two customs checks in the last week and they never batted an eye at me.

                              Quoth Dreamstalker View Post
                              That's why I have two state IDs now; if I do something dumb and drop one, I have a backup until the first one is found or replaced (I don't feel comfortable carrying my passport everywhere if not absolutely required).
                              See, and I felt more comfortable having my passport with me at all times when we went to Scotland last week.
                              It's floating wicker propelled by fire!

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