Had my first run-in with USA Secondary screening at SNN off BA1 today. Just trying to figure out why...
Traveling with my better half on a OneWorld award. Not an overly complex one, however we have visited Jordan and Egypt which I can only assume are the sticking points.
For those who are interested... The whole process wasn't enormously unpleasant, just stressful (not helped by the 45 minute flight turnaround)
We both went to separate immigration officials who went through the usual motions and did the standard fingerprinting. Usual questions, nothing of concern until she said "you'll just need to come with me". Walked into the little room and my partner was already waiting.
Questions basically involved describing the trip thus far, but no specific questions on the Middle East for me. My partner reported that the agent said a few times "we have record of you visiting Syria" which was odd... As we hadn't.
They photocopied the contents of our wallets including credit cards which is a bit annoying. Randomly, they also copied my "MyBus3" ticket which had been in my wallet for so long I'd forgotten about it. Maybe those on the bus to randwick need to watch out!
They dragged both our suitcases up from the aeroplane and pulled them apart, apologetically funnily enough. They copied a few hotel receipts, repacked out bags and sent us on our way.
Staff were pleasant the whole way through. My partner said the agent they had apologised several times and was repeatedly saying "don't worry about anything". Mine wasn't apologetic, however wasn't at all aggressive or unpleasant and remarked a few times about what a great trip it was.
The worst part of the experience was delaying the leg to JFK by a fair bit. The BA staff were hanging in the background during the whole experience and quickly rushed us to the aeroplane. Interestingly, they were extremely sympathetic. The ground agent suggested we "forget it and get on the drinks now" and the captain who was walking up to find us shook his head and mutter a comment about the yanks.
I'm trying to establish what flagged the secondary. Our customs form obviously had a few countries written on it, but my partner seems to think that (based on the comments of his initial CBP agent) they were expecting us. The Syria thing is weird... No idea how that came up and why it wasn't even mentioned to me.
More importantly...
Is it likely to cause problems in the future or are these generally individual experiences?
Traveling with my better half on a OneWorld award. Not an overly complex one, however we have visited Jordan and Egypt which I can only assume are the sticking points.
For those who are interested... The whole process wasn't enormously unpleasant, just stressful (not helped by the 45 minute flight turnaround)
We both went to separate immigration officials who went through the usual motions and did the standard fingerprinting. Usual questions, nothing of concern until she said "you'll just need to come with me". Walked into the little room and my partner was already waiting.
Questions basically involved describing the trip thus far, but no specific questions on the Middle East for me. My partner reported that the agent said a few times "we have record of you visiting Syria" which was odd... As we hadn't.
They photocopied the contents of our wallets including credit cards which is a bit annoying. Randomly, they also copied my "MyBus3" ticket which had been in my wallet for so long I'd forgotten about it. Maybe those on the bus to randwick need to watch out!
They dragged both our suitcases up from the aeroplane and pulled them apart, apologetically funnily enough. They copied a few hotel receipts, repacked out bags and sent us on our way.
Staff were pleasant the whole way through. My partner said the agent they had apologised several times and was repeatedly saying "don't worry about anything". Mine wasn't apologetic, however wasn't at all aggressive or unpleasant and remarked a few times about what a great trip it was.
The worst part of the experience was delaying the leg to JFK by a fair bit. The BA staff were hanging in the background during the whole experience and quickly rushed us to the aeroplane. Interestingly, they were extremely sympathetic. The ground agent suggested we "forget it and get on the drinks now" and the captain who was walking up to find us shook his head and mutter a comment about the yanks.
I'm trying to establish what flagged the secondary. Our customs form obviously had a few countries written on it, but my partner seems to think that (based on the comments of his initial CBP agent) they were expecting us. The Syria thing is weird... No idea how that came up and why it wasn't even mentioned to me.
More importantly...
Is it likely to cause problems in the future or are these generally individual experiences?