Outrage - Harassment on A.A. flights

Conchman

Conchman

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Has anybody experienced this? Somebody traveling on AA from MIA to POP yesterday, told me that several people were questioned on the plane, before it left MIA, things like 'How much money do you make?' and 'what is your job in the DR?' and other personal finance questions - all in front of the other passengers. I asked which US authority was doing this she said they looked like regular police, that it was not clear.

The targeted people seem to have been Dominican-Americans.

I am wondering if this was a one time or event or whether this is part of some new Orwellian tax-terror action.
 
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PeterInBrat

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May 29, 2006
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They could have been looking for someone. I was on a plane from San Juan to Miami once and the cops were waiting in the gate for some guy who apparently was in some trouble. If you think about it, picking up someone just getting on or off a plane is pretty handy since they have gone through a security check point.

But AA sucks. I only use Continental now. I had some flight delayed on AA once and it was a nightmare. They re-routed us to San Juan and then to Miami where they said they would put use up for the night. They gave us meal vouchers for the hotel, but the restaurant had closed so we had to eat out of the gift shop and have chips and salsa at 11pm after not eating for 14 hours. Then they couldn't get me to Hartford the next day so they sent me to Boston at 9am (be at the airport by 7, shuttle at 6:30)and put me on Greyhound. Because I had been delayed a full day with the flight I went directly from the bus station to work. I even had my luggage with me. On the trip out, we were diverted from POP to Santiago because the flight to POP was canceled and I had to take a taxi to Sosua in the dark on back roads in torential rains. Oh and they lost my luggage too, but it managed to get to my hotel the next day.
 
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Chellow

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I work at MIA this is done all the time mostly to destination where there is elicit money returning back. They don’t do that to DR much. The police that you are describing are TSA agents, no love with them here.
 
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catcherintherye

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No love for any of them, but they are just doing their jobs, and it is the same situation with all airlines. American Airlines is just the one you happened to pick on that particular day and time.

While I sympathize with your perception of being picked upon, I have to say it happens to others on a daily basis.
 
Conchman

Conchman

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American society is becoming more like an Orwellian nightmare, than the nation founded on the principles of freedom and liberty.

While I understand procedures to stop terrorists from boarding planes with explosives and/or weapons, this, in my humble opinion, is going one step WAY too far.

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken
 
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Chellow

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They’re a bunch of thugs, with a badge, just like the Marshal that killed a poor ill innocent men at work one day.
 
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catcherintherye

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The basta*ds!

They all suck!

I hope they rot in he** for what they have done, and I also hope that no one is caught on a flight that actually is targeted for terrorism.

If you stop and really think about it, those basta*ds just might turn out to be your best friends.

Suck it up and stop crying about it. What a bunch of babies! It's a tough world we live in. Get used to it. It's not going to get any easier!
 
Rattus_Rattus

Rattus_Rattus

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Conchman said:
American society is becoming more like an Orwellian nightmare, than the nation founded on the principles of freedom and liberty.

While I understand procedures to stop terrorists from boarding planes with explosives and/or weapons, this, in my humble opinion, is going one step WAY too far.

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken
Click to expand...


Yes i agree, there is something strange going on in the "land of the free"

:paranoid:
 
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Chip

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Would these guys even have jurisdiction for reporting tax fraud? I doubt it. Would they also be involved in trying to track drug launderers too, I doubt that as well.

If somebody asked me how much I made if they were nice about it I would tell them, but if they got got testy about it I'd tell them to stuff it. Reminds me of when I came to the Stated with my wife on her very first trip to the US after getting her residency approved. We landed in Miami and had a two hour layover. Needless to say we had to be interviewed by an immigration agent and after about 20 minutes I got worried about the time I asked an agent how long it would take. She said I couldn't ask any question and to sit down. Needless to say I told her I could ask any and all questions I pleased, hehe. She looked surprised and embarrassed. I guess she figured she shouldn't be making stuff up on the fly. :)
 
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Malibook

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This is ridiculous bullsh!t harassment that has absolutely nothing to do with the safety of the flight.
Apparently the TSA still employs some incompetent idiots who did not learn their lesson.


TSA detains official from Ron Paul group - Washington Times

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating the detention and harassment of a Ron Paul organization official by airport screeners, an incident that was caught on tape at a St. Louis airport.

Mr. Bierfeldt recorded the event on his iPhone, and provided a copy to The Washington Times for review. (Click here to listen to the audio)
On the tape, Mr. Bierfeldt is asked repeatedly where he works, where he obtained the money and why he was in St. Louis.
In each instance, Mr. Bierfeldt asked whether he was required by law to answer the questions.
"You want to play smartass, and I'm not going to play your f--ing game," the TSA official said.

Mr. Bierfeldt continued to refuse to answer, asking whether he was compelled by law to do so. The officers accused him of "doublespeak" and "acting like a child."
"Are you from this planet?" one officer asked.
The officers threatened to handcuff him and turn him over to the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration for questioning.
"You're going to have to prove why you have so much money to the DEA," a second unidentified officer said.
"We're going to help you understand [the law]," the TSA official said.
As he was being led away by the officers questioning him in the recording, another unidentified officer approached the group and asked Mr. Bierfeldt whether he worked for Mr. Paul and whether the money was campaign contributions.
Mr. Bierfeldt responded, "Yes," and was told by that officer that he was "free to go."
But one of the detaining officers said he was "not all that ready to let him walk" back onto the concourse, and held him for another five minutes.
"I was not refusing to answer the questions. I was only saying, as per the law, 'Am I legally required to answer the questions?'" Mr. Bierfeldt later said in an interview with The Times.
"We are becoming far too eager to give away our liberties in the face of false security. We want to make our plane and we don't want a five-minute hassle so we are eager to give up our freedom, and that is unfortunate," Mr. Bierfeldt said.

Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained

An angry aide to Rep. Ron Paul, an iPhone and $4,700 in cash have forced the Transportation Security Administration to quietly issue two new rules telling its airport screeners they can only conduct searches related to airplane safety. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union is dropping its lawsuit on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt, the man who was detained in March and who recorded the confrontation on his iPhone as TSA and local police officers spent half an hour demanding answers as to why he was carrying the money through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
The new rules, issuedin September and October, tell officers "screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security" and that large amounts of cash don't qualify as suspicious for purposes of safety.
"We had been hearing of so many reports of TSA screeners engaging in wide-ranging fishing expeditions for illegal activities," said Ben Wizner, a staff lawyer for the ACLU, pointing to reports of officers scanning pill-bottle labels to see whether the passenger was the person who obtained the prescription as one example.
He said screeners get a narrow exception to the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, strictly to keep weapons and explosives off planes, not to help police enforce other laws.
TSA was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to boost screening at airports, but the young agency has repeatedly bumped heads against civil libertarians, who argue officers overstep their authority.
TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches said the new "internal directives" are meant to ensure their screeners are consistent. She acknowledged the policy on large sums of cash had changed, but wouldn't provide a copy of either document. She said the directives would not be released unless a Freedom Of Information Act request was submitted by The Washington Times.
"TSA routinely assesses its policies and screening procedures to ensure the highest levels of security nationwide," she said. "Currency alone is not a threat, and TSA does not restrict the amount of currency a traveler may carry through the checkpoint."
TSA had earlier defended the search, though it had criticized officers' abusive behavior.
The ACLU released the September directive because TSA included it in a public court filing, but said when TSA gave it the October directive it was instructed not to publish it.
That second directive tells screeners that "traveling with large amounts of currency is not illegal," and that to the extent bulk quantities of cash warrant searching, it is only to further security objectives, the ACLU said.
The ACLU sued in June on behalf of Mr. Bierfeldt, who was detained after he sent a metal box with $4,700 in cash and checks through an X-ray machine at the airport.
He had the cash as part of his duties as director of development for the Campaign for Liberty, the offshoot group that Mr. Paul, Texas Republican, created from his failed presidential bid.
Mr. Bierfeldt recorded audio of the confrontation on his iPhone, including threats, insults and repeated questions about where he obtained the money.
"Are you from this planet?" one officer told him, while another accused him of acting like a child for asking what part of the law forced him to answer their questions about the money.
"The TSA has stated that their policy is going to change, which is basically what we were after all along," Mr. Bierfeldt told The Washington Times.
Some civil liberties activists speculate that TSA wants passengers to be uncertain about its procedures because it gives more power to the authorities in an encounter.
The new directives don't affect a situation where a TSA officer, in the performance of a regular screening, comes across evidence of illegal activity, such as a bag of illicit drugs.

Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained - Washington Times
 
Conchman

Conchman

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wow...that is exactly what has been going on. They are on fishing expeditions that have nothing to do with safety. IN THE MEANTIME, THE TERRORISTS, WHO ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE QUESTIONED DUE TO PROFILING PROCEDURES.....WALK ON THE PLANES....LOL.
 
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edm7583

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US Customs and Border Protection does occasional random interviews and searches of passengers leaving the United States all the time. Sounds like that's what this was. They are usually looking for undeclared currency and making sure that these people if they are working abroad, are paying their share to the IRS. Nothing to do with AA.

I doubt that this was TSA doing these interviews on the plane.
 
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hammerdown

hammerdown

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This doesn't just happen in the States, coming out of Montreal I got stopped by some sort of security, and questioned the same way, and a couple of weeks ago my parents were given the same treatment coming out of Toronto.
 
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wayne

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Dec 25, 2003
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The same crap out of Toronto last week. How much money do you have, why are you going to the Dominican Republic, do you own a home there, etc etc etc. This was all done while boarding the plane. The world is going insane and the power the governments are trying to impose on us is ridiculous. No wonder so many people want to move to the DR, where at least for now, there is a little freedom.
 
waytogo

waytogo

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After your flight begins, everyone is given a Declarations slip to fill in. It states you are required to notify them if you are carrying MORE than 10K. If you don't have to declare an amount under that, why all the fuss from the TSA or in fact any governing agency, and since when is having cash in your pocket against the law. I have never been questioned in many flights back and forth but I do know I wouldn't roll over and say yas massa.
 
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