The UK airport Security thread

[CaptainJim]

Why is 90% of the security in all UK airports so pedantic, rude, ignorant and self righteous (Even though they make the same money as they would flipping burgers).

Their job is so simple but they make it so complicated. Do they like annoying people? Oh but they'll tell you there just doing their job and a bad one too for the most part (I'd say from experience you get liquids through unnoticed 30% of the time ie you forget there was a bottle in your bag)

Why is it outside the UK ie on the continent they are courteous & respectful and call you Sir? (or ma'am)

Most of them are absolute losers with nothing better to do than harass us (Pilots & employees) who have already been extensively screened and are just there to do our job.

[Skipness One Echo]

There is a marked difference in attitude and courtesy between the rest of the civilised world and the UK. BAA Security is a particular nightmare.....

[Falcon666]

Totally agree.
It would really help if the security was standardised worldwide.
Why is it i can carry two bags(one backpack and one laptop) from SIN-LHR but only one bag in the opposite direction.
Why is it at LHR you leave the laptop in its bag for security but SIN you have to remove it.
Why at Delhi we were waved through security with two 1 litre bottles of water clearly on show.
In general these checks are just to make the public feel at ease, but the truth is it frustrates the hell out of us.
As for being polite ,well does the BAA realise after a 12 hr flight exactly how you feel to be confronted with attitude.Surely these guys have to pass a customer service course-truth is their bosses probably havent!!:ugh:

[Seat62K]

I departed from Stansted on about thirty occasions in the last twelve months and invariably found security staff to be courteous and friendly. This is too many times to be dismissed as simply my "good luck". I suspect, therefore, that the problem may only exist at certain airports.

[Brian H]

I have never had any trouble with security staff at any UK airport, if you are courteous with them, they treat you with respect. I found the the security staff at Gatwick South particulary very courteous and friendly.

[simfly]

It's maybe not the security staff at all, but the rules & regs that they are told to adopt by the Department for Transport. At my airport (BAA) I have a good relationship with most of the staff at the security post I have to use, they are very professional and stick to the rules AS THEY SHOULD, the only time I see them getting frustrated is when numpties who don't bother to read all the signage before the machines spend ages taking off their jackets, getting out mobiles and loose change etc etc for which they should have been prepared for!!

Most of them are absolute losers with nothing better to do than harass us (Pilots & employees) who have already been extensively screened and are just there to do our job.

If you make them out to be loosers, then that's probably why you get such a hard time passing through!! Why mock them for doing their job??? (and who extensively screens you before you go through security:confused:)

[Mrs Overall]

The worst security staff have to be the ones at Guernsey Airport, there are some really arrogant & rude folk there. I know they have to do their job but without us the passenger/staff they wouldn't have a job. Courtesy costs nothing & goes a long way. I have always found when travelling the larger the airport the more friendly the security staff seem to be & vice versa.

[tonyc]

I flew from GLA en route to CAG via LGW recently. I'm a smoker (I know, I know ! :O) and was carrying a Zippo lighter with me. I put everything in my pockets through the the security check at Glasgow without any issue.

When I passed through security at Gatwick, I did the same. One of the staff noticed the Zippo, didn't say anything to me, but shouted over to a colleague that a Zippo was coming through.

When I went to pick up my belongings I was told that I couldn't have my lighter back. I just said ok, not wanting to cause any bother but was curious as to why the same company (BAA) has different rules in place ? If I was paranoid I'd have said someone was getting a Zippo to order, but that's just silly - right ?

[HZ123]

BAA, MAN airrport & LTN security staff get considerably more monies than burger flippers. Starting salary for BAA security at LHR with bits and pieces is about £22000. What burger joint pays that sort of money. While we are at it perhaps it might be a good thing too if potential terrorists were standardised worldwide and here in the UK we stopped admitted everyone and anyone that has a grudge against western civilisation. To add insult to injury we then give thema house and money to pursue their interests.

Some of you really need to get a grip on life and what is actually happening around you particularly in the UK.

[kriskross]

It's not just the Government departments to blame. Remember that each individual airport is allowed to impose its own more stringent regulations if it wishes.

This, I feel, is the big problem - the totally different requirements at different airports, most annoying if crew or a frequent flyer.

[dubh12000]

I think it's perpetuated by the "team" that is on at any given time. It's easier for a group to all behave unplesently that for one individual to behave nicely with some manners in front of them. It is a case of poor CRM and poor Team Leader etc.

.....as an example, T5 transfer area has now gone to a "2 at a time" system placing the trays on the conveyors. I was yelled at for moving forward to make it 3 at the tray area. Well sorry, last week it was "3 at a time", in that area.

But it's not just in the UK.....i.e. JFK sucks, Newark is great, Frankfurt sucks, Zurich is great, and on and on and on.

[ArtfulDodger]

Re: I flew from GLA en route to CAG via LGW recently


I tell you something for nothing tonyc, you mention about different standards at different airports, come to LHR, we've got different standards at different terminals within the Central Terminal Area (T1,T2 & T3).

Until recently staff were subject to an all "shoes off" search policy in T1, but T2 and T3 were random.

[lplsprog]

And also each airline sets its own rules and this can cause problems at security with pax being treated differently in the same queue!:hmm:

[ATNotts]

And why do they never, well hardly ever in my experience, have even any rudimentary knowledge of a second (European) language??

Many's the time I've been through Stansted in particular and heard security staff be particularly short, in english, to our continental friends who in many cases are only travelling through their security area after visiting the UK for a holiday, spending their hard earned cash bolstering our economy. It's as though it's the passengers fault they don't have fluent Essex!

For pity's sake, almost everywhere on the continent (possibly France excepted) even railway companies employ ticket inspectors who proudly display badges denoting which foreign languages they speak - it's often english plus one other. OK ours can do the same, but the second and third languages are more likely to originate from the sub continent thatn from Europe.

[HDP]

Last year I 'smuggled' a rather large pen knife through security at LHR T3 - it was a totally innocent mistake, I totally forgot I had it in my bag and they didn't pick it up on the x-ray machine. After opening my bag in the departure lounge and finding the pen knife, I went back to the security area and very politely informed them about it. I even offered to go back land-side so I could post it home from the mail-box as I didn't want to be found carrying it on me.

Anyway, I ended up being questioned/interrogated/searched for 2 hours and nearly missing my flight... so that's the last time I'll ever go back and point out they're crap at their job...

:mad:

[CaptainJim]

Wait until O'leary or whoever buys Stansted and the rest of the london airports. I don't see them payin 22k somehow.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

[CaptainJim]

I wouldn't of went back but I know there was a time they used to search you at the gate. (no they'll NEVER admit their wrong)

It just goes to show how they (security) spend so much time enfocing their little power and they forget about why they are there. I wouldn't trust them as far as I'd throw them and those idiots are responsible for what the public brings onto my airplane (that scares & ANGERS ME).:*

Thats what happens when you put CHAVS in uniform and give them a simple task......:=:mad:

[nitefiter]

i picked up a commercial jet yesterday from a UK regional airport and flew it (empty) to a major Uk airport, then flew another one back (again empty) and i NEVER once passed through ANY security checks at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any worried security officials out there!????????????

[call100]

nitefiter
That is not hard to do!!!!
I think that we all know Security is not what we think it should be (Whatever that is). It is however, a fact of working at an airport....Until the Government finds another way to control the masses we will have to put up with it.
Unless of course we all band together (:}:}:rolleyes:) nothing will change for the better....

[nitefiter]

agreed, not if youre from the midlands its not!!!

[ifonly]

Nitefiter:-

Why would security officials be worried. Security screening only applies to the 'Restricted Zone' at UK airports and then only for aircraft over a certain size or seating capacity when on a revenue earning flight. If you picked up you aircraft fom outside the restricted zone and were already airside when you picked up the second one then you wouldn't be subjected to security checks. If that same aircraft was on a revenue earning flight then it would have needed to depart from the RZ and you would have need to go through security.
You haven't beaten the system, the rules don't require you to go through security!
Restricted Zones are approved by the DfT so they are well aware what areas of which airports fall outside of the requirement.

[Thaimike]

Wow what great comments CaptainJim or should I address you as "Sir" wouldn't wish to offend!! Maybe you spend a little too much time in your own company cocooned up in front of your taxi that when you come back down to earth you forget how to speak to the common people of the world. Tell me do you just have problems with airport staff or does your arrogant attitude draw smiles wherever you go??A bit of scrambled egg on your jacket does not give you the right to call the real workers "losers or chav's!!Security in general try to be pleasant and carry out a very difficult and yes sometimes unpopular task but in the face of persistent crap from people like you and ignorant passengers they too can get a little ANGRY!!

[call100]

I'm not a Security anything but I have to say I agree with Thaimike. Some of the Pilots posting don't do themselves or their profession any justice....
:ugh:

[vanHorck]

The security industry was only regulated a few years ago in the UK (SIA). Till then it was an unregulated unrespected industry.

It is precisely because it is now regulated that the dead wood is being cut out, which will lead to more "normal" people joining the industry.

Expect to see staff who speak more than one language, are friendly and courteous. But it will take time....

A few years ago the EU investigated the perception by the general public of security staf. Invariably that perception was substantially higher in countries where the industry was regulated.

Give respect and you get respect. The security industry is no longer an industry of bouncers and thugs, but the community too needs to percieve this and start treating the staff with a little personal attention.

I ve worked in that industry for many years and most staff were great people.

On another subject, there are differences between airport security and airline security. Both cost a lot of money and their interests are not necessarily aligned.

[nitefiter]

Ifonly
I realise that, it just shows how stupid the rules are, an empty aircraft could potentially be just as devastating as a full one, both aircraft went into immediate service on passenger revenue flights. In my opinion it should not matter where your parked or what the aircraft is doing, the security level should remain the same.