To wonder just how random airport security checks are?

[DifficultSituation19]

Because I seem to get pulled out to be thoroughly searched EVERY BLOODY TIME! You know, get all my belongings out so they can go through things thoroughly and swab them etc. I’ve flown around 10 times in the last 18 months and it literally always happens, whether I’m in England or abroad, whether I’m alone, with my DP, or the DC. Makes no difference. Always get searched while everyone else breezes through.

This has given me a bit of a complex. I don’t THINK I look like a DF (dodgy fucker). I mean, I’m not obviously oozing money or class but I’m generally quite presentable - white (shouldn’t matter but I’ve heard there is ‘racial profiling’), polite, middle class, pushing 40 mother of 2. WHY ME? My boyfriend thinks it’s hilarious. Surely every time can’t be ‘random’?

I always think the best smugglers would be middle aged women, reasonably well-dressed women, travelling alone. I always set the alarms of on the walkthrough scanner but always just get waved through with a smile. I carry half a pharmacy with me but nobody’s ever stopped me to check what I’m carrying.

Quite often on arrival I’m whisked through by a charming security chap in a gleaming white thobe - especially in the Middle East. They beckon me to front, wave me through an empty immigration aisle and take me to my car. I don’t think I’ve ever had to push my own case or go through customs properly. Same in Sri Lanka and India where about three porters were found to carry my bags and I was waved through straight to my car. I think I must look like the most boring and safe person on Earth.

Coming back from Egypt I took 2 litres of water on board with me, as I couldn’t find a bin to put it in. Nobody said anything; just helped me put it in the overhead locker.

@sergeilavrov maybe that is it, although we are not so young now!

I’m allergic to metal so no ring, jewelry etc. Shoes are taken off. My sister is fair skinned, blue eyes and black hair. I ‘m tanned, dark brown eyes and dark hair.
After searches I’ve had to go through the scanner at a couple of airports.

I seem to remember reading single women with kids are more likely to shoplift. It seems to be a mix of desperate poverty and using the kid as a halo effect .

To do with what you're wearing?

I tended to wear a loose floaty top for comfort when flying and always got searched while my dh (who looks a bit dodgy goes straight through). Change the top to something more fitted and get waved on through.

Do they look at a 'type' and make assumptions? Poor you.

My brother works in Kuwait and is often taken aside by anti terrorism police and asked about attitudes toward the UK in Kuwait, as well as numerous other questions. My brother was quite surprised at first but apparently he has gotten used to it now and is on friendly terms with the police. Although he really gets on well with his Kuwait employers and is highly respected there, so I don’t think there is ever anything of interest to tell them!

I fly often and I’ve never had my belongings swabbed or been questioned in any way.

I’ve often had the extra scanner but I think that’s my underwired bra. I don’t mind, it only takes a minute.

I have 6 flights in the next month and now I’m worried I’ll jinx it by posting on this thread .

I Always set off the metal detector - finally twigged it was either the underwiring in my bra or the fasteners on my suspenders if I was on a business trip! Unfortunately the non-communicative lady who did the pat down was not au fait with what suspenders were and spent a long time trying to work out what the lumpy bit halfway up my thigh was. I can't wear tights or I certainly would when flying

I always got stopped to be patted down. Last time I flew I was moaning about this and the security guy said that it's because I hesitate as I walk through. On the way back I walked quickly through and lo and behold I wasn't stopped...

Thinking about it I did sort of walk through and pause as if to let the machine scan me.

I always get patted down, 7 of us travelling together last time - only me selected. Apparently Skechers will always set off the machine, security at Manchester airport told me that so I don't wear them to fly anymore.
I got frisked once a couple of years ago and the woman put her hand down my jeans and my knickers! I assumed it was accidental and neither of us acknowledged it! Bit of a shock at 4.30 in the morning!

My mum gets searched every time she travels. Well dressed, middle-class, nearly 60 and usually with her husband. I do not know why, but it really is always her. It doesn't seem to matter if it's a little regional airport or a big international one. Wherever she is, she always gets stopped. I travel constantly (previously used to fly internationally twice a week for work for a year) and I have never ever been searched or scanned...ever. I have had my bag checked a couple of times but that's it.

We always get he dreaded SSSS on our Bp's as we are usually flying one way into the US on one airline. Stopping over then continuing on on another airline and then returning on another airline a different way around the world! Obvious why this would be a flag to them. Last time we went through SSSS I was on crutches with a leg in plaster and had to stand and wait for screening for 20 mins in agony. Went behind the screen and the only other person there was an old lady ...with crutches...

I’ve never been stopped, neither has DH. We used to travel for work and one guy was ALWAYS stopped. He was Asian, on one occasion DH and I were with him travelling to America for the first time on ex-soviet bloc passports/ small country passports and genuinely nervous wondering if the ‘have you ever been a member of the communist party’ visa Q was an issue in our paranoia of being kids in various school/ youth groups. They didn’t seem to even glance at our passports and still bee lined him. We were shocked. He had a British passport

I usually do not, but my daughter Amal always is ever since she was 8weeks old. They stripped her to nappy and patted it all over! Then took apart her car seat and push chair. Again when she was 2, again when she was 6....and so on every time. Latest was this summer...she is a teen now...the auto gate did not work for her passport and we had to go to line fir human border officer.

Yep it's always me! I remark when I don't get searched haha

If you have been checked and there is anything slightly dodgy found then you will be continued to be checked every time you travel. My friend was found to have 200 more cigarettes than her allowance about 20 years ago and has since been checked every single time. She was told that she has been flagged on their systems.

I fly alot, for business and pleasure, both long and short haul and in 30 years have never been stopped once.

The past few times I’ve gone to the US I’ve been pulled aside for extra security every single time and never allowed to do online check in. I’m visibly “foreign” and although I’m personally not a Muslim most of my family are and I have a Muslim name. My male relatives have been searched, pulled aside etc all the time on US trips since 2002 but just about the time they stopped getting pulled over, I became the one that’s always pulled aside. When I travel, I’m almost always the sole carer for a wheelchair user with cognitive difficulties so it’s really difficult and quite scary for the person that’s completely reliant on me to see me whisked off and separated from them. They’ve even been wheeled away from me by airport staff loaded onto the plane without knowing if I’m going to be allowed to fly. I am their security and they were terrified of the plane taking off without me and being dumped in a foreign country with no one to look after them.

Absolutely none of my family represent any risk and it’s always a bit humiliating to know that this is most likely to do with race and assumed religion. We’re as scared of terrorism as anyone else. Also, going back to the previous generation before my parents moved to England, we aren’t even from a country or region that’s high risk. A similar place of origin would be Hawaii!

It must be nice to go on holiday without having to be treated like a potential criminal every time. Just to be able to relax.

I absolutely understand and I’m grateful for security measures at airports but surely stopping the same innocent person up to 6 times a year is a waste of resources?

I don’t smoke or drink and have never done anything at all dodgy beyond the odd parking ticket.

All I can think is that I am not on any social media which is rare for someone my age and apparently the current US administration do look into social media accounts.

Then it will be my bra wires that does it lol. I always tell them I have a screw in my elbow .
I think we look innocent and they go for the seemingly innocent folk as these can be mules.

I would love a definite answer to the apparent randomness of security and what info the staff at security control have because they haven't got your passport or documents.
Last year I went flew out of the UK 18 times. I went to different places in mainland Europe, sometimes as a holiday, sometimes as an over might trip, city break. I mostly went by myself but occasionly with DP, once or twice with DC and other times with friends.
Out of these trip I was pulled aside 16 times for a pat down ( I went through bare footed, no jewellery, metal on or in clothing, miminum clothes.
13 times my hands and bag was swobbed and 12 times additional questions about my visit.
Every single time the people I traveled with went through without a glance!
It doesn't bother me, I'm just curious.

I'm a fat, 40s white woman and have never been stopped or searched (except for when I had to take my DHs ashes on a long haul flight - that was fun ).

However... last time I flew back to the UK from my very volatile home country and was asked by the friendly chatty check in staff whether I had anything to declare, I stupidly said - and yes, I realise I was being a total idiot and have kicked myself many many times - that I had nothing to declare except for the bomb in my suitcase . I immediately said I was only joking and they laughed along with me. When I got my luggage back in the UK everything had been totally ripped apart - the zip on my suitcase had been cut and everything searched. Had to throw the suitcase away.

I haven't flown since, but I'm guessing I will be quite thoroughly searched next time I fly.

Maybe you look anxious. It's always when I feel harassed that I get picked on. The few times I've arrived feeling happy and calm I just went straight through. Perhaps if you're walking through thinking "Fuck don't pick on me again" you look tense/evasive?

@Cryalot2 - The US cross references your social media handles against watchlists, so not having one shouldn't make you more suspicious if you are also providing them your email address. If you have something like a YouTube account through your email, declare that if you're concerned.

@notacooldad - Security is not random at all. If you're curious, you can find documentation on how the US profiles at security online. There was a leak a few years ago. There are also a lot of academic papers on the subject that are used by governments to create their procedures. Different countries have differentiated risk profiles, so a lot of things are country specific e.g. Israel has different concerns than Jamaica. Remember, they're assessing for a lot of different threats simultaneously, threats that change daily. If you are the one mainstay bringing other less frequent travellers to European cities, and so frequently, I'd suggest that would likely be a drugs concern.

I haven't flown since, but I'm guessing I will be quite thoroughly searched next time I fly

I imagine you will be searched every, single time you fly now. I'm surprised you got away with that so lightly tbh

@BrendasUmbrella in my case it starts before I even get to the airport, when I’m not allowed to do online check in and I’m informed I’m subject to a “random” security check and to arrive at the airport allowing for extra time.