kerouac, I don't think they have quite forgotten the IRA types.

My new son in law must have a common Irish name because his passport received much more scrutiny than ours upon checkin. I know it was because of his name as by this time we had spent alot of time with a ticketing agent and she was very forthright about the time spent checking his passport. Deborah

>I wonder whatever happened to that machine?
You'll look totally naked to the viewer. People here say it shouldn't be used, because it's "invading one's privacy".

Thanks Logos

I felt like being at an aerobic workout while putting my feet into different positions and stretching out my arms.

I didn't realize exactly how much the viewer could see so I didn't feel that my privacy was invaded at all.

My sister -- white-bread midwesterner -- is searched just about every time she returns from an overseas trip.

She and her husband thinks its because _he_ looks like a drug dealer -- ponytail and goatee (he's actually a guidance counselor). He has never been searched; they probably think she is carrying his drugs.

I was thoroughly searched and "patted down" by a female at Schiphol on my return to the U.S. last year. It was becoming so intimate, I darn near demanded it be done by a man.

Just try to enter USA at JFK with my passport and you will know a lot about 'close' body search !
(a black frenchwoman with a name americans seem to find arabic sounding)

"The TSA, along with the rest of us, don't like hippies. Don't dress like one and you should be ok,"

Huh? I have nothing against hippies. This string is from people who have been searched and not one sounds like a hippie. Like a few others, I'm a grandmother who dresses conservatively, and have been pulled out of line many, many times. I usually travel in black or beige, as many other women do, so I don't think clothing color has anything to do with it.

Of course I meant NOT exposing themselves.

kerouac,
:) :)

The idea that racial profiling would stop all terrorist would be offensive if it weren't so palpably stupid. There are certainly instances of terrorism conducted by your lily-white ilk.

I'm very reluctant to appear to favor political correctness, but the idea that searching people without consideration of their ethnicity or religion is hardly political correctness. If anyone really thinks that all terrorists are male Muslims of a certain age, I have a very good deal for them on slightly used lottery tickets.

Hmmmmm. Let's see...If 98% of the people that get involved in car crashes on rainy days DON'T have their headlights on, wouldn't it make sense for the police to stop those driving without lights and maybe warning them for the sake of the rest of us?

Not all, certainly, but in the last 5 years, 95% seem to be such. Therefore, it would be LOGICAL to screen 95% of people chosen in that description, with the other 5% people outside the profile.

As someone mentioned before, single young Irish men used to be the most common profile. Now it's changed. The people checked for extra security should change as well.

Well I am old enough that I am a grandmother and I am a caucasian born in CA and have lived here all of my life. I almost always wear black when travelling and I don't wear "bulky" clothes and to my knowledge I am not on any terrorist list! But I would say about 90% of the time I am pulled aside for extra security. And that was true way before 911. I just expect it and accept it but it sure makes me wonder "why me?" especially when I have often seen travellers that shall we say sort of fit the profile of a person that should perhaps receive extra screening.

Me too, Loveitaly, long before 9/11 I was almost always taken to a special room to have my luggage searched and a little pat down too. I thought in those days they thought I was an IRA member. But maybe I have shifty eyes! Remember when all the TV cop's suspects were because they had shifty eyes.

Yeah SeaUrchin, and being in a car with you also means being stopped at the various PD Sobriety Checks too, lol. Maybe we both have shifty eyes, you think?

Synchronized like those Felix The Cat Clocks!

this thread really gave me a flashback to a pre-9/11 "pat-down" that a group of rockers (think Motorhead) got at Sacramento "International" airport as we were flying somewhere. Hung-over, unshaven, jack-boots - complete with the chromed steel moto-cross hardware... and the hapless manager/wrangler who was trying to shepherd the motley crew through the check-in process. Seemed funnier when you could count on those guys getting the frisk... just another ignominity we must all somehow bear now... some more than others.

I must have an Angelic expression because two years ago on my way to Florida with my daughter and the grandchildren, to my dismay I realized that I left my ID home.
Our flight was leaving in 30 minutes ..The only thing that I carried with me was my credit card and an expired voting card.
I told security about my dilemma, they searched my carryon and to my surprise and great relief they let me aboard the plane.
My DH sent my driver license the next day.
However, I believe that they took my picture because they asked to stand and face different directions
..Boy what a sight i must have been..It was 4AM,and had a sleppless night..I can let you imagine how I looked..

I've gotten the extra fun & special searches at SEATAC (Seattle) airport so much that I just expect it. I'm always flying alone when I go there, but otherwise I don't know what it is they like so much about me!

(I was never searched this much in my, ahem, "hippie wanna-be" days of third world travel, by the way.)

Sorry about your experience. I personally believe they should be searching everyone! If you've got nothing to hide, what's the big deal to feel somewhat "secure" on a flight. The idea of "racial" profiling is crazy, just look at El Al. They did in the past, and then moved on to behavior profiling after their last hijack attempt years back.... It was an Irish woman! When was the last time anyone heard of a problem on an El Al flight?

Talk about profiling! I accidently wrote down my true profession on one of those cards. If I could only tell you what they do to me. And I always know where my seat will be.