AAFrequentFlyer

Amazing .............

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3616393.stm

In the name of security!

This really make me feel better and more secure.

Will this madness ever stop?

Scarlett

I don't really care if someone important or "royal" had to go through the same thing that all of us have to go through when we travel. They have never taken me to a VIP lounge to have my shoes and bag searched though..it must have really been very hard on them. I am sure they are very upset.
How many VIPs have a clue of what the ordinary traveler goes through these days?
The "madness will stop" when the world can feel safe from highjackers and suicide bombers and the like.

AAFrequentFlyer

I'm not sure if you are capable of grasping the seriousness of the situation here.

This is a future king of one of our closest allies we have left in this world. It calls for protocol. One of the senior TSA agents should have enough brain power to make a call on the spot.

It's embarrasing. This has nothing to do with privilage, special treatment, it has a great deal to do with diplomatic protocol. Imagine if you read that our president had to go through a personal search when leaving a foreign country.

Besides, does this TSA F*** U* make you feel safer. A future king of a friendly country could be dangerous you know!

But as long as it makes you feel safer, I'm all for it!

MikeTr

Calm down.

There are requirements. After almost 200 people were killed in Spain, the prince should understand that we need to take precautions. If they wanted to be treated like roylaty, a simple call to the State Department by the Spanish ambassdor would have done it.

I'm glad to see they were so thorogh

MelissaHI

pffft. I just came back from a trip this last week. My friend had received her passport only the week before the trip. We traveled to London, then Paris, then back to London. It was not until we were in Heathrow airport checking in to get home to the US, did the clerk say, "You've been travelling all this time, and no one stopped you for not signing your passport?!" We were all pretty appalled that everyone had let her slide thru all these airports with an incomplete passport.

Scarlett

"I'm not sure if you are capable of grasping the seriousness of the situation here."


AAFF, I think I might just stretch my lil ole brain cells and try reeeeally hard to grasp the seriousness of the situation and let you know later what I can come up with. But for now- I think it is what some might call a Tempest in a Teapot. I would rather worry about those Japanese hostages in Iraq right now (as well as our own countrymen).

Dan

While perhaps the situation could have been handled better by TSA, let's not forget that the Spanish folks gave the American side only a few hours "notice" that they would use the Miami airport. These few hours are far less than required BY LAW when you expect to get the full diplomatic treatment.

AAFrequentFlyer

Dan, I do understand the the procedure wasn't followed by the Spanish side. My point here is that the station TSA manager could have made a smart call here and s/he failed miserably. It's embarrasing. This is a future king of one of the few countries standing with us through these hard times. Can you imagine the headlines in Spain. If many there were already questioning their countries role in the coaltion, many more will probably sway that way after this stupid TSA move.

Scarlett. That was a poor choice of words by me and you used the excerpt to full advantage, but my opinion still stands. Read above.

Dick

What I don't understand...

is why the future King was flying on a commercial aircraft.

I would have thought he would have been on a private plane.

Patrick

Protocol aside, am I the only one who thinks it's perfectly appropriate for a future king or a president to find out what's it like for the common person to pass through security?

herself

I have No problem with what the TSA did. Do you think the next terrorist will look like Muhaman Atta? They may be imperonating Prince Charles. Check everyone. There will always be too many misses.

tomboy

What do you bet that AAFF thinks Bush should have gone out to New Mexico and arrested those Arab pilots BEFORE 9/11?

easytraveler

Happened in Florida, you say? Again, Florida? Hmmmm

easytraveler
Happy in California

Not bipolar, just bicoastal

vacationdreamer

Didn't they stop Gore last year for a security checkpoint? He was an electoral vote short of the presidency, but he is a potential terrorist? Discretion is not a strength of the TSA. That said, I'd rather they picked too many people to check than not enough - unfortunately, I still don't think they know what they're doing.

As to the original subject matter, I that AAFF is more upset than the Spanish royal family was...

bonniebroad

It really doesn't make me feel any safer to have Al Gore, Spanish royalty or my elderly brother searched (until the poor old thing's pants almost fell off!) I think all these millions spent on random searches would be better spent REALLY screening airport employees before you hire them (remember the story about all those working at Dulles with criminal records??), x-raying every bag going on an airliner, closer screening of people who indicate they want to harm others, etc. I've never understood the value of screening Grandmas from Iowa!!! But I guess what is good for Grandma is good for Spanish royalty. I don't think you can ever stop every terrorist or suicide bomber if they're really intent on their mission, not if you want to live in a relatively free society. I am for any measure that makes us truly safer but I don't think searching Grandma or Spanish royalty is one of them.

AJPeabody

Have no fear. You will be safe from terrorist princes and disgruntled former vice presidents. Of course, they don't check the cargo shipped in the hold of passenger flights by non-passengers. They say it would cost too much.

Hmmm.

Orcas

The Prince of Spain needs a sense of humor and to stop taking this personally. He can suck it up just like the rest of us, from John Kerry (who my husband saw searched a couple of years ago) to my elderly mother. My husband also witnessed a law officer selected in a random screening and searched even after he had declared he was carrying a loaded firearm. Said the law officer as he set his gun on the table, "What could be worse than a loaded gun?" Something to ponder!
We all know it's nuts and that there are big holes in the system. But I don't feel any sorrier for some Prince than I do the rest of us. That he should blame Miami shows his lack of understanding of the good ole US of A and what we are facing here at every airport in the country. (But we did have a diving watch stolen from our luggage in Miami years ago. Now there was a Miami problem!)

bonniebroad

Never gets dull down there, does it, Floridians???;-) Always hoppin'.....

Ryan

The article makes it pretty clear that the King didn't give the normal 72 hours notice and instead gave 6. Isn't that a violation of protocol?

Is the Spainish Government more concerned with protocol than with violating the law, something that WOULD HAVE been done had he not been screened at that point. While bashing the US for decisions and assuming we're a nation of unsophisticated clods is the norm in parts of Europe, SOMETIMES we're not the one's in the wrong.

Sounds to me like the Spanish official in Miami is engaging in a little CYA, because he was probably the one who forgot to give the notice! If he was gracious, he'd be a little more understanding and would have diffused the situation given the broader issues faced by our two countries.

Ryan

BTW Bonnie, the random searches are an absolute neccessity from a law enforcement point of view. Saying the searches are "random" is the only way to actually search those people you want to search, without turning every search into a potential legal action.

By saying the searches are random, it does actually provide an increased ability to search those people whom you want to search.