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'm rarely stopped but i make sure i have nothing in my bags that may look liquid, keep carry on neat with not much in it, wear zero metal/jewellery, no bra inderwiring, always slip shoes off and but through scanner.

Stupid thing is that once my mother in law (easily confused and forgetful) left a bottle of water in her hand luggage and the x-ray didn't pick it up. It was only when on the plane and she opened her bag that she realised. So it's not as if they're that reliable anyway.

What I don't understand about airport security checks is why nearly all women are told to remove their shoes, even flat shoes. But hardly any men.
My anecdotal observation based on taking 80+ flights one year was that many women ask if they should remove their shoes - which often results in a yes from security person. Fewer men seemed to engage at all with security persons unless challenged.

Serge: Profiling is behaviorally based.

So they're watching me from the minute I get to the airport?

I've never had my bags opened/ searched / swabbed so must be behaving in a way that doesn't interest them.

I haven't a clue what I'm doing at the airport despite flying many times. I always forget 'procedures and need to be told by staff at each step what to do. I bumble through and hold everyone up, every time.

Maybe they're watching this and think 'just get this incompetent woman on the flight...'

I fly quite a bit, often alone, and I always get stopped at uk airports (even though I'm well aware of the security regs and abide by them). I stopped wearing underwired bras. Still beeped and rescanned. Wore clothes without any zips or metal buttons. Still beeped and rescanned. I just expect it as part of travelling now and it's not an issue (apart from if I have the misfortune to be travelling through Manchester Airport where it seems to be incredibly miserable and slow).

I’ll add myself to the list of white fat 40 something blonde females who get stopped every time! It really doesn’t bother me, I’ve come to expect it now, and I’ve never had anyone be less than polite to me.
I do fly on my own a lot though, 2/3 times a year from Scotland to Faro, so that’s maybe a trigger 🤷🏼‍♀️.

No stop I’ve ever had will compare to coming back from Canada about 30 years ago. Came off the plane in Scotland and coming through immigration, my then boyfriend and I were separated out of the queue and told to go behind a screen, put our luggage on the floor, amd sit on a chair in line with our luggage about 8 feet away. There were quite a few people asked to do that. A dog was then put to work sniffing over our luggage. It sniffed its way over Some amd then got to mine. It sniffed, and sniffed...and sniffed. I was starting to Poo my pants a bit, I knew I had nothing illegal, but once you check your bag in, you don’t really know what happens to it do you?
I was called over and taken aside for my bag to be searched...the dog had reacted to an open half eaten bag of salt&vinegar crisps😂😂

When we flew to Boston from Heathrow last year with 30 kids, they told us at check in that they were pulling some of our pupils for a security check. So I stayed with the ones who were pulled to ensure they were ok. (I went last through security so I could be with the ones who were pulled)

When we fly (family of 4... me, DP and now older teen DD and DS) one of us usually gets frisked, bag checked or put in the scanner.

What I don't get is the inconsistency. Eg. I always wear an underwired bra but don't always set the machine off, I was told I had to remove my Birkies to walk through but DP didn't have to remove his.

On one memorable occasion on the way to a self-catered holiday they selected one of our cabin bags to open and search. As they pulled out some dried herbs wrapped in cling film our faces must have been a picture as we realised how it must have looked but they didn't bat an eyelid!!

@JudgeRindersMinder reminds me of the time we were coming back from Disneyland Paris on the Eurostar. We put all our bags on the conveyer to go through the scanner, including the open ended bag of filled baguettes we’d just bought from the shop at the station for the journey home. Got around the other side, and there was an Alsatian sniffer dog on the conveyer, LICKING the baguettes 🥖 🤮. We didn’t eat them.

As an aside, I can’t attribute my constant searches to my weight, as I’m a size 10, so I must just look dodgy.

@DifficultSituation19 as a slender person, you get searched to counter any complaint I make about their searches being targeted against fatties 😂

Who told you they were random? They're not!

@georgialondon the lady who was searching my stuff last week coming back from Spain did...but I guess they have to say that.

Timshelthechoice “Yes, how dare they want to carry medication they need to stay well, food they can tolerate if they have allergies or things they need to occupy their disabled child to keep them calm on the plane”

I’ve spent over 20 years flying up to 650 passengers a day. I have no grudge against the people who need to bring medication or things to occupy a disabled child. But you understand these are not the majority of passengers, right? Many people bring a large wheelie bag in the cabin with them containing all manner of stuff. Over on Snowheads forum (I am a skier too) there are regular threads with people asking how best to pack their ski boots or indeed their entire week’s worth of clothing into their hand baggage. People argue that all sorts of stuff which could go in the hold is essential to go in the cabin, and abuse the rules. Which makes it harder for those who genuinely do need to bring things in their hand baggage. However, I have never once come across a passenger who has their entire 23kg cabin bag allowance filled with their medication, allergy-free food and items to keep their disabled child entertained. That is an awful lot of medicine, food and entertainment items for what cannot be more than 1 day of travel. I think you are being unnecessarily outraged.