To think airports are so stressful lately?

[Kjones27]

Jesus , I used to like travelling. I just find the airport so stressful now, that I'm utterly exhausted by the time I get anywhere. I have british and irish paaaports. I fly on my irish passport which is supposedly slightly easier to fly to the eu is. In my experience, it is not. I still experience standing around in queues for ages.

I feel like they make it as stressful as possible for everyone.

I recently flew from Dublin to Spain.

I didn't have a bag to check in as that would have taken me even longer. So my first queue was the security queue. I was standing in the long security queue for about 30 mins. Put my carry-on bag through. It set off some alarm. Or maybe they were testing bags randomly. I had to wait for a guy to come over empty my bag , put everything back in. Then I went on.

I sat in the departure lounge for about an hour. Then I went to get on the flight. They let everyone go through the desk, then for some reason they made us all stand on the stairs before rhe flight for another 40 mins. Plane was slightly delayed taking off.

I get to spain. We wete made to stand in another queue to show passports here at the spanish airport. This was an extremely long queue, as there were only about four men dealing with hundreds of people from different flights. I stood in this queue for about an hour. Finally got out. And i was just so tired.

Another thing. The last time that I flew from Spain back to Ireland, a Spanish female security officer asked to pat me down.

I said yes, as I'm sure most people do, as we afraid something worse will happen if we say no.

She then patted me all over. Up and down. She patted me In between my thighs.
She then patted both of my breasts. Which I wasn't expecting. She didnt pay between them or under them. She specifically patted each breast. I would say she slightly cupped them.
I really felt violated. I looked online to see if security officers are allowed to pat you there. And it says airport security officers are allowed to touch you anywhere for security reasons. So you are leaving yourself open to be groped just by taking a flight. I just think some security officers take advantage of their ability to touch others though. There are a lot of stories online of women who say they were molested by female security officers.

All in all, its a very stressful experience.

Who's going to push the wheelchair? I'm sure airport staff won't do it. I wouldn't be able to push my mother in a wheelchair through a very long airport. She is a size 16, and I have herniated disc in my back after a fall. I'm not supposed to lift heavy weights.

I don't think a lot of people would have someone to push them in a wheelchair all through an airport.

I've travelled six times since Jan 1st...think it's getting easier and easier.
Last week Heathrow express from Paddington to terminal 5 in 18 mins, through security 12 mins later...was eating breakfast at cafe 40 mins after leaving Paddington.
I travel hand luggage only, have liquids in bag ready to go, know to be stripped down off coat, belt etc...
But honestly even over last 18 months never queued at security more than 15 mins...been through all London airports and Birmingham and Manchester.
Longest queue was at Marseille...about 25 mins

I was patted down at Schipol once and the woman put her hands down the back of my trousers and knickers and felt my fanny! It was horrendous. I flew through that airport every week so knew it wasn't normal. I complained on line and was called by a policeman. He was very sympathetic but I'm not sure anything was done about it.

I'm sorry you had a bad/stressful experience 😔

I think maybe it depends on the airport? I don't fly regularly so don't have lots of experience of airports.

We flew from Manchester to Salzburg last August and I was quite nervous before we went as I hadn't flown for years. However, I was pleasantly surprised and found it quite straightforward really. I did do a few things to make life easier though.

I paid for fast track security to avoid the big queue.
We did online check in and day before bag drop- so again, avoided queues.
TUI were organised with boarding and luckily no delays.
Coming back, I paid for fast track at passport control as we have a 10 year old son so I wanted to avoid the queues - we were through in minutes.
We are going again this summer and will do the same.
I appreciate the above isn't always possible though and queues or delays can be very stressful.

Yes if you book special assistance, airport staff will push the wheelchair.

There is a job where you can touch people sexually.
It's really the only job where you can touch people sexually.
It going to attract sexual abusers and perverts.

It is not checked enough - what they are doing.

They need to bring in new regulations, where are airport security staff are strictly trained and also strictly checked.

I'm sorry but I know airports well enough to know that this would not be a lovely easy procedure. Where you book it and turn up at the airport and there is a staff member ready to help you with the wheelchair the whole way through.

I looked up "wheelchair assistance at dublin airport".

And the first three google results were all negative. They wwre:

1. Woman in wheelchair misses flight because of late airline assistance staff.

2. disabled man sues airline assistance staff for his fall out of the wheelchair

3. watch this shocking image of a woman in a wheelchair being made to crawl down airplane steps

If the whole process feels so anxiety inducing and negative for you OP, I think it makes sense to avoid it. Ferry travel is usually slower paced for example.

Yes! Manchester airport is a fucking nightmare. Never enough security staff so you could be 45 minutes waiting for someone to check your bag if it’s pulled from the scanner.
In general I’d say airports can be stressful but some are better than others.

Yeah i think I might do. I haven't taken a ferry in ages. I don't know what they are like these days.

Do you have to through security guards to get on them ?

Interesting read. I've not flown since 2019 for various reasons and I'm very much missing foreign travel. But I'm hesitant. Never used to be!

OP I'm sorry you had such a horrid experience and it's awful to hear so many others have experienced the same.

I've flown quite a lot in the last 2 years (10+ return trips). I've found the last few trips to be the most straightforward. I tend to fly from Luton, Birmingham or Stansted.
I haven't had the experiences of being searched in an invasove way. I have been patted down but nothing more. I wear hijab, but i didn't used to when my passport photo was taken, i expected problems from this but haven't had any at all.

If been patted down before in a normal way. This was the first female guard that did it to me in a strange way.

I honestly think I'll take the ferry in future. At least I can be a hundred percent sure I won't be groped when I travel.

Im flying from Luton next month and having read this thread am now really nervous as i always seem to set off those body scanning machines and then i get patted down.

I fly every couple of weeks and wouldn't say I have your experience at all. I fast track security and make sure my bag is packed as per requirements. I never rush to board so I don't get held up in queues.

I fly quite a lot, luckily as a result usually have fast track and where I don’t just allow plenty of time, I don’t find it stressful but it is a hassle.
However it’s funny someone else has mentioned Frankfurt airport. I flew from there two weeks ago and had a pat down from a female security agent that was way over the top and I wish I had said something to her about it at the time. It wasn’t as much as some on her, but enough that I was bemused and shaking my head. I’ve flown from Frankfurt lots of times, never experienced anything like it previously.

I also get patted down every time I fly and think its just them doing their jobs. They'll be checking for anything put into your bra cups.

You can't control everything.

My bag was packed to requirements. I checked the mls of my small make up bottles. I put those bottles in a see through plastic bag before I went to airport

When I got to security. I took put that bag put it in a tray. Took out my electronics. These were visible in the tray. There were no liquids or electronics in my bag.

My bag still didn't pass through security.

The security guy made me wait around for quite a while till he came over with my bag.

Then he took ages going through my small backpack. Them he decided to get something to swab and test it for drugs.
He held me up for quite a while.
He didn't find anything. And then told me to go on.

Airports are awful and they just seem to get worse and worse. It used to be that I had a mix of bad experiences and good experiences. Now every time it’s terrible. Queues, delays, lack of seating, stressful security. Everything.

Would the body scanner not show if something was in your bra?

I walked through the body scanner first, then she patted me down.

Would you please stop saying she touched your vagina? Unless you took your pants off, I doubt she touched your vagina.

Yeah but there's a fine line between them saying they arw allowed to check your bra/vagina for things and them sexually assaulting you.

That is why if you look onlne, youll see that there are alot of women in the USA who are sueing airport security for sexual assault.

Is there not a better less invasive way to do it. Would a body scanner not pick up if there was a weapon in your bra?

Read back. I didn't say she touched my vagina. Not once.

I talked about other women's accounts online who said they were sexually assaulted by security guards at airport.

These women reported being touched in the vagina. I posted one woman's account with detail here.

Also I believe another poster came on here and said that a female airport security guard touched her vagina

Another poster on this thread said it happened to her.

She wrote "I was patted down at Schipol once and the woman put her hands down the back of my trousers and knickers and felt my fanny! ".

I think it's important to highlight what is going on, as women shouldn't be subjected to this when travelling

I fly a lot.

I get patted down every time. It's a running joke.

I have never been touched like you describe.

You've taken "hundreds" of accounts of it happening and ignored the probable millions of times it hadn't.

Additionally, these staff members are VERY VERY well checked, more so than teachers etc.

Also, I've found flying back into the UK, from the EU easier now than ever before 🤷🏼‍♀️ seperate queue for none EU passengers.

I'm sorry you feel violated, and no one should, but your dramatic thoughts elsewhere, e.g. thrown in a cell, are bizarre and excessive.