to be a bit annoyed at the way this body search was done?e

[CharlotteRumpling]

So I was just body and hand searched at Heathrow. I dont object to that at all. I object to the demeanour of the woman security guard. A lot of tutting, rolling eyes, snappy tone because I was apparently holding my hands the wrong way/ not getting into position fast enough. I left home at 5 am so a bit sleepy. On the other hand I recognise it's a very hard and intense job. But the women after me was body searched because she had coins ( I didn't) and she got a pleasant please and thank you. She also did not have her hands checked.

I am brown btw.

I once got body searched in Morocco and the woman put her hands right between my legs and squeezed! Definitely felt violated.
Most customs/security at airports are not very happy/smiley IME

When I was obviously pregnant I had my top lifted in full view of other passengers... Bare stomach exposed....

In my experience these are never nice experiences - they are often miserable and snappy. (I’m white)

I get searched when with my husband but never alone. It’s weird. One of my 4 older teen children is always searched but not the others.

Yes, they are often rude and have poor people skills. They must come across people who are a pain in the arse but most are just a bit nervous or tired.

I remember being shouted at irritably by Ryanair ground crew one time as I fumbled giving them my boarding pass (when you had to show it to get into the gate), when I was just tired and dazed, not being deliberately unhelpful.

Have to say after that experiences have been really good. But they ought to exercise a little patience. A lot of people don't fly frequently and even if you do, procedures at different airports can be dissimilar.

I had an horrendous experience at Manchester earlier this year. I made a mistake and didn’t hear them correctly and they wouldn’t let it go. In the end I said I’ve apologised I’m not sure what else you expect me to do. That totally fanned the flames! I had been moved on to someone else who was totally lovely (my back pocket in my trousers kept setting off the machine sensors) but the original women kept death staring me. I’m just lucky it was the lovely woman that did the pat down search. It was very disconcerting and upsetting - there is such a power imbalance - especially as it was the first time I’d been in an airport after being sectioned and diagnosed with mental health illness; so I was feeling pretty vulnerable from the get go.

I was dreading the return security checks from the European city we were in. They couldn’t have been more lovely. Every single one of them. I often wonder if it’s a deliberate strategy in the UK to unsettle the fuck out of us all!

My (white) 3 year old toddler was barked at and manhandled roughly at the airport for bring scared to stand in one of those huge infrared type machines.

The bloody idiot guard (brown) would not accept my explanation that she was scared and I could go in instead and shouted that she must go into the machine. He only stopped when his female colleague came over alerted by his shouting and helped calm DD down. She was very tactful, asked DD to play a tickling game and did a light body search instead. I was about to thump him by then😌

There's a lot of idiots on a power trip in that job (and some nice ones).

I have been hand searched A LOT as I cant go through metal detectors (have a pacemaker) and everyone has been very polite and professional who has done the pat down.

I have had some absolute plonkers who have tried to insist that their metal detectors are safe for me (Im looking at you French side of the chunnel) and got arsy when I refused to walk through as Im not trusting my life to a scruffy bit of paper stuck on the side of a metal detectors machine.

Other jobs worths have tried to wand me after the hand search and then got arsy when I have launched myself backwards away from them when they picked up the live wand, however most of them have been sharply put in their place by senior officers when I have repeated no and pacemaker.

I travel quite a lot but found today's experience more like US immigration.

I guess everybody is tired ahead of Xmas.

Luckily, most experiences I've had have been OK (Melbourne, Fl were particularly good while having to hand search autistic DS). The worst was TSA on one trip where the queue was really long as three connecting flights came in late. One TSA staff member half way down the queue told everyone to keep electronics in bags while the other TSA at the trays wanted electronics out. He absolutely lost his shit when people were not prepared and ready (due to the confusion) and I mean LOST HIS SHIT. Screaming, snatching, throwing trays across the floor, calling people idiots. He made kids cry; it was a shocker.

Fairly sure skin colour has no bearing since airport workers are everything from lily white to darkest black.
I honestly feel that you need to see more of the world if a grumpy airport worker makes you feel hard done by.

Working on it!

On the other hand I recognise it's a very hard and intense job.

I think you're giving them a bit too much credit here. It's not that it's a hard job, it's just that some of them are total arseholes.

I'm going to go against the grain here. Last minute trip booked to ibiza with a friend so only had hand luggage. We had our bags searched by a stern faced gentleman in Bristol Airport. By the end of it he had my noisy spangled top on, a pair of bikini bottoms and my friends 20inch ginger hair extensions giving us a shaky boob dance. He was a bloody legend! If we didn't have a flight to catch we would of stayed with him all day🤗

Back in the day you used to get searched going into football grounds. My response was "ooo this the only reason I've come today". Which 99% of the time really pissed the copper off.

It's not the best job in the world and I would personally also get a little annoyed if the person had to be instructed how to stand given how many times you see someone getting frisked on TV

It.depends what type of tv people watch, I can't think of a single programme where I've seen someone being searched.

Airport security staff deal with an endless stream of people every day—some pleasant, some downright awful—all while trying to clear massive queues as quickly as possible. Throw the madness of Christmas into the mix, and it’s chaos on a whole new level.

I travel a lot and honestly never give situations like this much thought. One time in Canada, they accused me of carrying metal in my luggage which I didn't declare. It turned out to be a rock I’d bought as a souvenir. The staff definitely weren’t nice to me during the whole ordeal, but you should’ve seen their faces when I opened my bag and pulled out a rock 😂🤣

Seriously, though, there’s so much more to worry about in life than whether an airport security worker said 'thank you' to someone else and not you. It’s not that deep, and it’s definitely not personal.

Yes; you are right. It rubbed me up the wrong way- something about all the tutting- but I am over it now and on a sunny beach!

Omg I had this in Belfast airport!

I don't think airport security are known for being friendly....

Travelling with my friend (female), we got stopped at Schiphol , for a pat down.

Friend came through trying hard not to cry. The woman searching her was so ‘thorough’ her bra had been undone. Apparently the agent needed to ensure that the wires were just that!

That said, I don’t know anyone who relishes airport security 🤷🏻‍♀️

What no kojac, Starkey and hutch, the bill, ncis, Hawaii 5-0, Juliet bravo, etc, etc, that is any police drama.
Any crime film, such as the godfather, James bond, oceans 11/12/13.

And surely the people going in front of her in the security que.

It does sound racist if the woman after you was given a more pleasant approach. Grim.
As well as that, I don't think the people doing these searches take into account how unpleasant and intrusive it is to be groped by a stranger, even one of the same gender doing her job. It isn't always clear what they want and people are often stressed or tired at airports and need a bit of slack.

I had one guy at JFK ask me to take my bra off. I was just putting my bag onto the conveyor, not being searched. I was startled and didn't know what to say. Then he started roaring with laughter like this whole thing was hilarious and let me move on.

Some of these staff are clearly on power trips.

Best to not take it to heart. I got literally shouted at and then told off like a child for my underwear setting off the alarms once.

I was stood in my underwear only at that point and had been suggesting it might be a the underwire for a while...

It was the day before my partners funeral, which was also my reason for travel, so I'll grant I probably was acting a bit odd and upset.

I got over it - only remember it when I hear stories like this. As with all people acting like an arse but who have the power to ruin your month, it's best to just let it wash over you. Enjoy the beach!

I'm disabled and met the most unpleasant man in Birmingham Airport who was quite annoyed that I couldn't walk though the scanner without the crutches. He kept shouting surely you can take a few steps. It was actually one of the most mortifing experiences of my life. In the end a supervisor came over and he was sent else where and she finished the pat down / scan and was lovely.