Crew baggage screening event LHR
LHR CREW BAGAGE SCREENING EVENT
DISCRIPTION OF THE EVENT
After arriving at LHR Terminal X at XXXX hrs to operate ABC 123 to XXX, I approached my airline ticket counter to enquire about the departure gate and on-time status of the flight I was to operate. I was informed that the flight was on-time and that the gate would be XX. I decided to pass through the employee screening channel in the terminal alone, prior to going on duty at XXXX hrs, so that I could find a quiet corner to sit and study the flight planning material on-line via my company website. I was not in uniform at that point (I was wearing a sweater over my uniform shirt) and I was not wearing any identifiable company markings. I presented my ICAO crew ID card and proceeded to the screening area. On entering the screening area I observed 3 people conducting screening; one male, and 2 females wearing head scarves. All three appeared to be culturally western Asian. The area was empty save for myself and a European male wearing a hi-viz vest covering what looked to be a disheveled suit on the other side of the walk through scanner. I presumed this man was something to do with the eternal construction activities within the terminal as his clothes were filthy, his shirt wrinkled and his overall appearance suggested he had just slept in the items he was wearing. None of these people wore any identification that could be seen and were not dressed in any type of uniform. My immediate impression of the screening area dynamic was that the male screener was overly concerned with presenting an air of authority, and of his image to his female co-workers.
After my items were scanned, the male screener, aggressively and full of macho bravado, told me very loudly that my liquids had to be removed from my bag. I asked why. The male screener retorted in a rude confrontational manner that all liquids were required to be scanned separately. I removed my shaving kit from my bag and placed it in a plastic tray and gave it to him. He then passed the tray through the baggage scanner and told me again that all my liquids would have to come out of my shaving kit and placed in a clear plastic bag and then be re-scanned. I then muttered under my breath “for Christ sake”. The screener immediately yelled in a very loud indignant voice, “did you just tell me to **** off?” I said, “no, I did not”. The male screener then asked his 2 female colleagues whether they had heard me say **** off? They both looked down at the ground and said yes, they had. I proceeded through the walk-through scanner. Immediately after that I asked to talk to the supervisor and was shocked to be told that in fact, the disheveled looking male standing behind the body scanner was in charge of the whole process. I asked to be taken to a room so that I may discuss with him the discourteous and rude treatment that I had been subjected to. Meanwhile the male screener was continuing to loudly assert that I had told him to **** off. I was shown into an area bordered by plastic curtains, open to the examination area and still in full view of the screening personnel.
This so called supervisor then proceeded to try and lecture me about security in the UK. I stopped him immediately and informed him that his efforts were in vain. He then started berating me for telling the male screener to **** off. I explained to him that I did not tell the male screener to **** off and that the male screener was mistakenly assuming that I had sworn at him. I explained that this person had probably heard the “F” in my “for Christ sake” muttering and had assumed that I had said **** off. A long discussion then ensued about security in general. During this discussion I was again lectured as to the fact that ”at Heathrow we do things right”. I made a point of asking why, on leaving LHR after a previous layover, my bags having been packed exactly as they were now, had they passed through the same scanning station successfully and without any further need for closer inspection? The supervisor then turned around and walked off leaving me wondering whether I should leave as well. I heard him in discussions with his personnel. He then returned and told me that he had asked his personnel again whether they had heard me say **** off and they had all said they had. In the middle of reiterating why I thought that the screener had misheard me the male screener aggressively walked into this supposedly private area and remonstrated to me again about how I had told him to **** off and that he “wasn’t going to take it”. I explained to him that he had probably heard the “F” in my “for Christ sake” muttering and had assumed that I had said **** off. Both men then rounded on me and accused me again of swearing at the male screener. The supervisor then inferred that because I had been caught not obeying the regulations, that I was creating an incident to somehow mask ‘guilt’. I asked the supervisor to clarify what he had just said after which I explained that I seriously had no regard for his regulations or the abusive, intrusive and invasive process that I had just been subjected to. The male screener then started wildly accusing me of other things in a loud voice. I pointed out to the supervisor that the screener’s complaints about me had now changed from his original assertion that I had sworn at him and that this whole ordeal had become ridiculous. The supervisor then became very officious and asked the male screener what he wanted to do about the situation. I interjected immediately that I was sorry that the screener misheard me (my exact words). The screener nodded and walked away. The supervisor then motioned for me to leave. I collected my belongings. As I was about to leave a female screener demanded that she place my toiletries in a see-through plastic bag and re-scan them. I nodded “yes”. When this finished I repacked my belongings and left the employee screening area. I proceeded, bewildered, to an empty seat in the passenger waiting area to review my flight planning documents. The time was XXXX, 30 minutes after initially entering the employee screening area. I subsequently reported for duty, on time, 45 minutes later at gate XX.
MY COMPLAINT
The UK has always been a nightmare for security/customs/immigration as far as us flight crew are concerned. I have even been threatened with arrest for just showing a general declaration to immigration authorities in Manchester. There seems to be a very wide interpretation and implementation of screening standards from one port of entry to another and from each screening team to another. Certainly this was the case in this instance and is unacceptable.
Rudeness, disrespect, discourteousness, inappropriate familiarity and plain obstruction seem to be the norm when flight crew enter and exit the UK, particularly at LHR. Many screening teams I have been unfortunate to encounter have no respect for the sensibilities of the people they are tasked with serving. In many instances my crew and I seem to have been thought of as an inconvenience and extraneous to their activities. I have yet to be treated as a professional let alone be addressed as Captain or Sir (not that this is very important to me) in my dealings with anyone tasked with screening me or my crew in the UK. My impression is that if maximum inconvenience and belittlement of flight crew can be achieved then so much the better.
In the UK (and elsewhere), screener attitude seems to be that all flight crew should be treated and regarded as common criminals and errant teenagers. This is unacceptable, as is a seeming overarching intent to embarrass us. Intra-screener team point scoring off flight crew for some sort of egotistical or perverted sense of professional pride is an affront. We pilots do not tolerate it in the cockpit and neither should we tolerate it elsewhere.
In the event I have described, I was subjected to false accusations, threats and a group ‘mobbing’ by male and female screening and supervisory staff who were more interested in making sure they falsely accused me of things I did not do in unison rather than actually acknowledging the facts. This is unacceptable.
Not being able to readily identify, both by ID badges and/or uniform, on-duty screener personel is unacceptable. As employees, we have a right to know who and/or what are conducting security and screening activities-particularly as it pertains to us.
SUMMARY
The concept of flight crew screening is logically and fundamentally, largely redundant. We as flight crew seem to be unwilling participants in a giant ‘shutting the door after the horse has bolted’ exercise. Indeed, none of the very few security events involving flight crew over the years could have been prevented by the procedures in the event I have described above save for, maybe, an incident involving the downing of a USAir BAE 146 by a disgruntled ticket agent in the 80’s. This tragic event happened at a time when airport employee security screening did not occur in the USA and could have been easily prevented by comprehensive employee assistance programs and peer group monitoring.
Further, I ask why we flight crew must be screened at all when we arrive at an airport to undertake our duties? In this modern era of comprehensive, world encompassing, far reaching, highly technological intelligence gathering and dissemination surely there is a more efficient, less futile way to attain the flight crew specific goals of aviation security? I can only assume that flight crew screening is carried out for far more suspect, invasive, personal liberty contravening reasons using mass fear as an excuse.
Most importantly though, as to the event at LHR I have described above, to have to endure the treatment I received, at the beginning of what would turn out be a long, stressful 12-13hr flight duty period ending with holding delays and a landing in the midst of severe convective activity in the arrival Terminal FIR, was and is unacceptable and plainly did not contribute to or add to safety or security in any way. Rather, it had completely the reverse effect.
Captain
Major International Airline
Last edited by pablo shaglo; 22nd June 2012 at 09:10.