Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Male security at LHR asked my 15 daughter to take off her hoodie when she was travelling alone

243 replies

sofato5miles · 17/10/2021 07:10

Am i over reacting? She was upset. She had a large but thin hoodie on and only a strappy top underneath. No female officers and she was properly unnerved by it. She was flying home alone for half term. She is a shy but capable girl. My gut feeling if she felt uncomfortable it was because something felt wrong. WWYD? Would you make an official complaint?

I have spoken to her about finding her voice before ( though in this specific case, requestiing a female officer). The hoodie was mostly zipped but you could see her straps.

OP posts:
DameMaureen · 17/10/2021 11:19

At LHR I once had a surly female member of staff lift up my t shirt as in exposing my midriff for all to see . I stopped her there and then and told her I was not happy with that . I had to go to a private room and be searched which was fine with me . It did take ages though to find someone else to come with us to the private room and I got the impression they all found it a bit of a hassle .

notimagain · 17/10/2021 11:19

@Toooldforthis321

I worked at Heathrow pre 'wand' and had the 'pleasure' of being hand searched if security needed to. I was a 15 year old girl at the time. All part of securing airside. I left just before 9/11 so am imagining that staff had to take off work jackets etc too, just like passengers.
Yep, all staff have to take jackets off, including crew.
GreyhoundG1rl · 17/10/2021 11:22

My gut feeling if she felt uncomfortable it was because something felt wrong
No.
And as to an official complaint?! Give over.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Clymene · 17/10/2021 11:23

@bumblingbovine49

This is good to know actually because DS wears only very baggy over the head hoodies at the moment with nothing under them . He refuses to wear t shirts for some reason nowadays ( sigh!). So I'll make sure he has something on under his hoody if we fly this coming year ( which we might do) . He'd be mortified to remove his top if he didn't have a t-shirt on and in fact I think he'd probably have a meltdown ( he has ASD) so this is good to know so I can prepare him. I imagine the t-shirt will be tolerated for the flight if the alternative is being asked to remove his hoody and being beat chested.

I knew zip up hoddies might need to be removed but since he only wears over the head ones I think I assumed he'd be ok . So whatever else op, I'm grateful for the heads up on this

The OP's daughter was wearing a hoodie with a zip.
Viviennemary · 17/10/2021 11:24

Did the hoodie havd a zip up front or was it pull on over the head. Its quite usual to be asked to take a front zipped garment off.

Viviennemary · 17/10/2021 11:26

I missed that it was zipped. Then that was perfectly usual practice.

Skysblue · 17/10/2021 11:32

It is normal land basically women have to plan what to wear for the security check :( They’re trying to make sure you’re not hiding a suicide vest and I have to support that.

I once got asked to take off a coat that was v tight and more like a dress 😬🤦‍♀️ I’m more careful what I wear now!

But yes being forced to remove clothing by a strange man goes against some pretty basic female instincts and I’m not surprised your dd was a bit traumatised.

sashh · 17/10/2021 11:37

She should have said something or asked for a female member of staff.

UK airports are used to requests like that, Muslim women who wear a full face covering have to reveal their face at passport control but can request a female and a private area.

I use a wheelchair at airports and so I always get the full pat down, it's just part of flying.

LaBellina · 17/10/2021 11:38

But yes being forced to remove clothing by a strange man goes against some pretty basic female instincts and I’m not surprised your dd was a bit traumatised.

^^ this! We can rationalize what happened and say it’s part of the procedure but the response is coming from this part and therefore quite understandable.

JesterMcFester · 17/10/2021 11:46

It's astounding how many posters on this thread are telling DD to change what she wears rather than saying she should have been asked dealt with by a female security guard.

CharityDingle · 17/10/2021 11:47

@EddieVeddersfoxymop

We flew through Gatwick recently and had the same- all of us were wearing hoodies and were asked to remove them. That included me who had a zipped one on which was open! We did as we were asked - no drama, just followed the rules. My husband was selected for the body scan and myself for a drugs wipe. It's just part of keeping everyone safe.
That reminds me, the surface of my iPad was checked for something last time I flew. I have been scanned and patted down a few times too, at various airports. Plus I sometimes set off the alarm as I go through, for no apparent reason.
Clymene · 17/10/2021 11:51

@LaBellina

But yes being forced to remove clothing by a strange man goes against some pretty basic female instincts and I’m not surprised your dd was a bit traumatised.

^^ this! We can rationalize what happened and say it’s part of the procedure but the response is coming from this part and therefore quite understandable.

Forced? He asked her Confused

I am a big fat hairy feminist but this is not a feminist issue. This is a bloke doing his job which is to ask people to remove their jackets and belts.

He was probably on the other side of the belt. If she had been wanted, then a female security staff member would have done that.

Dontknowwhatsnext · 17/10/2021 11:52

@JesterMcFester

It's astounding how many posters on this thread are telling DD to change what she wears rather than saying she should have been asked dealt with by a female security guard.
Since when have only female guards been able to ask females to remove a jacket? In airports?

Op claims there were no women on shift either. So no women able to fly?

Clymene · 17/10/2021 11:52

Wanded.

You're basically asking that no male staff speak to female passengers at security.

notimagain · 17/10/2021 11:53

TBH I’m a bit Hmm that the word “ forced” has crept into this used..

The operator will have asked for the garment to be removed…

FWIW from the UK CAA:

“ Aviation security staff have no powers of search. However, submitting to search when requested is a condition of entry to the secure area of the airport. A refusal to submit to search will mean that you will not be allowed to fly.”

InTheLabyrinth · 17/10/2021 11:54

Jester personally, I adjusted what I wore to minimise the occourances of being taken off into an independent room, away from the kids, to be searched - I regularly flew through places where women were never searched in an open area. Getting searched was a pita, and I did anything I could to avoid being seperated from the boys (primary school aged or younger) when flying without a second adult. So, yes, for me I'd adjust what I wore because that is the lesser nuisance to having to submit to a body search, which was a)more time consuming b)less than ideal for the kids and c) for me more invasive
and made me less comfortable.

RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 11:55

It's astounding how many posters on this thread are telling DD to change what she wears rather than saying she should have been asked dealt with by a female security guard.

I don't think so. It is the easier of the two options isn't it. It's just common sense.

GreyhoundG1rl · 17/10/2021 11:57

But yes being forced to remove clothing by a strange man
Oh, stop it Hmm

HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 17/10/2021 12:04

Please can we stop shaming the OP’s young daughter for feeling uncomfortable? She didn’t need to ‘find a grip’, she was perfectly entitled to find it uncomfortable given that she wasn’t expecting it and she’s done nothing wrong in talking to her mum about it.

That doesn’t mean the security agent did anything wrong either.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 17/10/2021 12:06

As others have said, next time she'll say "I've only got a vest on underneath" and they'll probably let her through.

The thing is, though, that if women routinely claim (whether truly or not) that they only have underwear on underneath a thick coat/extra outer layer and thereby expect to be simply waved on by, this opens the floodgates to nefarious individuals - whether female, female-identifying or other - using this excuse as a loophole.

The upshot of that could then be that women, as a class (being by and large the ones who may be dressed in this way), become considered by default as a potentially greater security risk profile, with any additional default security measures that might lead to - specifically aimed at women - to reflect this perceived greater risk that 'being female' could represent.

As has been said, women who cover up fully for religious reasons are usually happy to be taken into a private room and be security-checked by a female guard; but can you imagine the uproar (and the abuse they would face) if all such women claimed that their own personal clothing choices rendered them outside of the standard security checks and that they should expect to be waved by, just on trust?

Clothing choice is an important part of air travel, and you do have to think ahead as to how that choice you make may make you feel uncomfortable during normal security checks.

Even when not flying, it does seem quite an eccentric choice to effectively skip a layer - standard top or t-shirt - and just go for underwear covered by a substantial overcoat/jacket/similar. What do you do when you want to react to the weather or over-zealous aircon - have to decide whether to swelter or stand there in your underwear, with no in-between option?

WeAreTheHeroes · 17/10/2021 12:07

It's pretty obvious the OP's daughter was herself uncomfortable she hadn't worn more under her hoodie, but blaming the security officer for her discomfort is not on.

notacooldad · 17/10/2021 12:12

There are such a wide variety of hoodies and people are saying they are having different expierences at different airports it sounds like security staff are making judgement calls with what they see at any particular time which is fine.

There is a world of difference between my thick fleecy lined Oakley hoody that i keep in the office when it gets really cold and my thin woollen hoody that I wear as a lightweight jumper with my cord mini skirts.

My son was asked to take his Vans hoody off at Melbourne airport and put that in the tray. He had already taken his coat off. This was in 2016. It was one of those longer hoodies with a zip, not a pullover one and he had the zip open. So the take the hoody off rule is not new ( it has probably been going on longer that 2016 and it is also a global rule) People will always be able to say ' Well, I wasn't asked to take mine off but as I said it is probably a judgement call.

girlmom21 · 17/10/2021 12:16

@JesterMcFester

It's astounding how many posters on this thread are telling DD to change what she wears rather than saying she should have been asked dealt with by a female security guard.
He only asked her to remove her hoodie. He didn't physically remove it from her. If she's not comfortable in being seen in the clothes she's dressed herself in then yes, she should change what she's wearing.
LaBellina · 17/10/2021 12:19

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

Please can we stop shaming the OP’s young daughter for feeling uncomfortable? She didn’t need to ‘find a grip’, she was perfectly entitled to find it uncomfortable given that she wasn’t expecting it and she’s done nothing wrong in talking to her mum about it.

That doesn’t mean the security agent did anything wrong either.

Exactly this but apparently in the mind of some posters here, that’s ridiculous and it’s all black and white.
MrsLargeEmbodied · 17/10/2021 12:41

we are not shaming the daughter, we are shaming the mother for raising a complaint, which she decided against very quickly

Swipe left for the next trending thread