Why me?

(Ian) wrote in message om...
(me) wrote in message . com...
(Ian) wrote in message om...
[snip]
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom always to tell the difference.
(Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)

Actually, it is usually attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr. Although
there is some suggestion that it is a translation of a german prayer.

In that case, Kurt Vonnegut JR. failed to attribute the words to
Reinhold Niebuhr.

Ah, heck, that's nothin' new. It was about a year or so before
I figured out that it wasn't Kahn that said "From hell's heart I stab
at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." Not to
mention that although I was vaguely aware that "first star to the
right, straight on 'til morn" wasn't probably spoken by Kirk, I
didn't really make the connection for some time. Attribution isn't
a tradition in fiction.

"Ian" wrote in message
m...

For a country famed for its service culture, a
little of that service would be nice to see after a 10 hour flight.

The "service culture" only applies to companies that want to make a profit
from service. Since the government delivers services with no profit
mission, their lousy and surly service is a given.

Ken Ishiguro

On Wed, 1 Oct 2003 11:44:08 -0700, "Peter L"
wrote:

Supposedly a random process, unless you fit some kind of profile (average
British family of five, I think, is one.) Just joking.

My last trip I breezed through security in only minutes but they had a
family of Aussies aside and were going over them with a fine toothed
comb. It was a mother and 3 children and TSA spent about 5 minutes
running bomb detectors and metal detectors over her and the three cute
little, toe headed, Aussie children. Spent another 10 minutes digging
through there carry on luggage. The mother took it all with a smile
and a friendly attitude. I'm not sure what they expected to find but
there will be no cute little children or smiling young mothers
hijacking that plane, I am sure of that.

I have often said that immigration officers the world over go to the same
charm school. And where do you get the idea that the US is famed for its
service culture? Even in Thailand, famed for its service culture, the
immigration officers have the same expression as their counterparts in China
and Russia.

I noticed that myself. What an evil scowl those women who stamp
passports in Bangkok have. I don't even know where they find someone
so unfriendly looking in Thailand. The must turn away many friendly
happy looking applicants before they find someone who looks mean
enough to be a Thai customs agent. US customs agents are easily
explained as being typical government employees.

Not the Karl Orff wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Ian) wrote:

Not the Karl Orff wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Ian) wrote:


Were you on a oneway ticket, changed flights close to departure date,
or paid cash?

None of these. The LAX and SFO tickets had been bought several months
prior. Only the MCO - MIA flight was 'booked' on the day because we
had been bumped off the London to MIA flight and been re-routed
thorugh MCO.

I wonder if this was it. Were you booked onto an another airline?

Yes. It was Virgin Atlantic from LGW to MCO then Continental from MCO to MIA.

My husband and I used to have the same problem: spent a year (during
which we must have travelled to the US about 6 or 7 times!) having
secondary immigration screening (which could take between 30 minutes
and 2 hours - mostly longer rather than shorter!).

What had happened to us was that when we went skiing in February 2002,
the immigration officer at Denver had stamped our passports with
"August 2002" and not "February 2002". SInce "August 2002" hadn't
happened yet, their system assumed it should be "August 2001". This
was a problem since our exit for that visa wiaver was "March 2002"
(which meant we MUST have spent over 6 months in the US!!!). Despite
us going into the US and leaving it around Christmas 2001/New Year
2002... It was a mess and VERY DIFFICULT to explain to each different
set of immigration officers every time we entered the US... :-(

Basically, if US immigration pick up anything that isn't quite right
about you (in our case, they thought we had been in the US over 6
months on a visitor's visa waiver), then they put an "alert" on your
passport. So everytime you enter the US, and they scan your passport,
they see this alert and send you into a little room for further
investigation. Even if they find out that you are perfectly innocent
and that the "alert" is unfounded, it takes them MONTHS - and about 5
attempts - to get it removed (it took them over 6 months to get my
husband's removed, a little less for mine - don't know why they didn't
remove both of ours at the same time...)...

So, I think that you also have some sort of "alert" on you by US
immigration - so every time your passport gets scanned, they
interrogate you again. Have you tried saying to the immigration
officers that you have been pulled over for the past x number of times
and asking why this is happening? I know that most (but not all)
immigration offciers can be pretty unhelpful and unsympathetic
(especially after spending two hours in a closing down temrinal of LAX
airport last Boxing Day because an Immigration officer's shift was
ending, so he couldn't be bothered to process us... was at the point
of taking my holidays in other countries...!)

#Honey

In article ,
(Ian) wrote:


Yes. It was Virgin Atlantic from LGW to MCO then Continental from MCO to
MIA.

That is why. Booking onto Continental airlines OW seems to incur being
selected for extra security by the computer, let alone being booked at
the "last minute".

It may be the Airports in the USA you are going through.Some Airports have more
prblems than others so security is tighter

Like if you were flying British Airways to/from Philadelphia Pa chances are you
wont get searched.

high risk airports would be
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Miami
Chicago
Boston
Dallas

I've ignored all the replies because I didn't feel like reading them


The airline is choosing you for the screening, it depends on how you
purchase your ticket.

As far as your comment about "is it obligatory in the US that all
sour-faced people can only get jobs at airports?."


We don't want to be there as much as you, i mean 8 and a half hour
days, 6 day work weeks, crying babies, people that complain no matter
what, and the rest of the hazards that go along with it... bottom line
is that it isn't a fun place to be.