"Profiled" at security because of what I was wearing.
 

Just an observation after a return to Baltimore from Paris.

I don't ever remember such a thorough physical search done on my body as the one I and all other women were given at the final security check to get to your gate at CDG. I didn't think anything of it because other women were also getting patted down. But I did think my OB-GYN doctor could take lessons from these very efficient women ;;)

Going through security at the Philly airport after rechecking my bag after customs, I was pulled aside for another body check. I hadn't set off any of the sensors so I was curious as to why I was detained. The woman said it was because I was wearing a full skirt.

So, if you want to get through security with minimal hassle don't wear one of the full, gauze or linen skirts that are so comfortable. Deborah

Maybe they're read my posts about wanting to strap lip gloss to my thigh to smuggle it in.

Trends change. I remember that on one trip in the pre-9-11 world, my DH got a lot more questions at passport control than I did; we've always figured that it was because he hadn't shaved in about 5 days and looked "scruffy."

oh boy. I usually wear a long gauzy skirt to fly too for comfort. Sigh. I'm glad you asked why you were singled out and posted this.

How was your trip otherwise?

missypie, believe me if I had any lip gloss, even in a tiny tube, strapped to my thigh they would have found it ;;) You just can't let these changes dampen the urge to travel. Deborah

These are slight problems compared to many mid-Eastern ethnic travelers, many of them thoroughly patriotic Americans, have to face everytime they fly.

maddy, still getting through the return home doldrums but our trip was fabulous. I know that word is thrown around quite abit but it just about sums it up.

A wedding of friends in the Camargue, time in the Alps, Lyon, Paris and then a week at a language school in Paris left so many wonderful memories, it really hasn't had time to settle in just yet.

thanks for asking, I may not have time for a detailed trip report but I certainly have lots of observations ;;) Deborah

Honey, those women were lusting after you, pure and simple!

PalQ, I did reflect just that to myself. How easy it will be for me to just change my clothing to avoid the hassle, certainly many others don't have that possibility to make their travels as easy. Deborah

DeborahAnn sounds like you had a great trip, even worth putting up with the intimate encounters with security personnel.

No pressure for a full report, but when you get settled in, I'd love to hear a little about the language school.

Maddy, I can highly recommend the ELFE school in Paris as a school for adults interested in furthering their French language skills or to even start them as a beginner. I would be happy to give you comments about my experiences there anytime. Deborah

DeborahAnn, you mentioned you took a one week course. Did you feel that was enough time to make a decent amount of progress? If you don't mind, can I ask what level were you before you attended? I'd be pretty close to beginner so I'm assuming I'd have to take a longer class for it to be worthwhile. Also, can I ask what made you pick this school? Did you consider others?

Don't wear red either (at least that's the only trip I've ever gotten the extra searches, never did that again)

maddy, I'll start another thread about the school, that way I can answer any questions. I did alot of research and can give you more information there. I was looking for that kind of information last year about this time. Deborah

After 911 I have been body searched almost every trip. I get taken into a tent at ZRH and felt up. If I didn't wear such tight jeans, I believe there would have been a penetration problem. I'm assuming that since I am the opposite of the "profile", that I'm always chosen. I'm a very white blond female.

Some of you ladies should try the mysterious ghost cabin into which women must enter to be searched by "coal sack women" in the airports of Jeddah and Riyadh. My mother still hasn't fully recovered from the experience, 15 years later.

Can't even imagine what that's like, but I just put those two airports on my list of places to avoid.

I have been "chosen at random" for every single security screening I have ever gone through---but i've yet to get a strip search/full cavity search (touch wood).

This includes my checked luggage. I always come home w a note from the lovely TSA blah blah blah. (Once, those jerks, even removed my underwear from the CLEAR, Platic bag it was all folded neatly into, and just left it in the open. TSA didn't really care when I complained. that's beside the point.

See I follow all the "guidelines," ridiculous they may be, hoping (in vain) to make my trip hassle free. This will be long, but I have my ipod, palm, cell phone, and jewelry/watch in plastic bags in my purse & easily remove them in their own tray for screening, along w/ the laptop w/o anyone telling me to, I wear ballet flats/flip flops/ chinos/other pants with no belt, sports bra (just in case underwire sets off the alarm). I wear my hair down through the metal detector. etc etc. I pack my checked baggage and carryone according to those guidelines they issued forever ago.

Now all that effort I thought I'd make it through okay, but I never do. At first I thought it was b/c of my name, as my family is from the middle east, but we don't look like "typical" middle easterners, so I decided that couldn't be the case.

Anyway, I asked on one of my extra searches, and they said, I was too neat, and followed the rules, and that was suspicious.

I'm going to tolerate the extra searches, b/c I could never stand to be one of the whiny business travelers who travel at least once a month yet can't figure out that they must remove their shoes, and sports coat before passing through screening. My way is efficient and even w/ the extra toss through my luggage/purse/pat-down, I still manage to make it through before they stop whining.

My boss thinks that he is constantly searched because he has Louis Vuitton luggage. If he travels without it, he never gets stopped. If he takes it, the security people are always rummaging through it.

He can't understand why.

I notice that "hippies" always get stopped and hassled. I was flying to Phoenix once, from Philly, and the security people were giving this guy with long hair and a guitar a VERY hard time.

Christine

I would be very surprised if TSA told anyone the real reason they had been singled out; it defeats the purpose of their having reasons.

If a TSA agent responded to my asking why I was being selected, I would expect the answer to be, shall we say, misleading?

I'm also the anti-profile. I've been "randomly chosen" for search & pat down every single time I fly. We thought it might be that as a redhead they thought I was IRA, but I think it's just so they can say, "see we don't profile, we searched the old white lady too".

I remember a few years ago coming through Heathrow and being singled out for the full search & patdown, they emptied my purse completely onto a table. While I was being searched I watched as no other women was pulled out of the line.

Coincindentally I was the only women who was not wearing a veil, and my husband the only man not wearing muslim clothing, in the line of about 200 people. I guess under the circumstances we were suspicious characters.