Homeland Security tightening up again.

Drew,

I know airports have lounges .. i was talking about TRANSIT lounges.

remember the days when you arrived in a country youwere just passing through and you had say 2 hours between flights.

You didn't have to check out and in .. you stayed on the checked in side and went to a transit lounge hence staying in international territory.

I don't understand why the major coastal hubs in the US like Miami, Atlanta, NYC, LAX etc etc all make you check out and then check in take ur bags back through security and then get on the plane when you could just stay in a transit lounge never entering the country. This would take a huge workload off the airport and make travelling a lot easier and in no way is a risk as everyone was checked at originating airport.

Drew,

 

I know airports have lounges .. i was talking about TRANSIT lounges.

I had forgotten about those; I'm trying to remember when I last sat in one of those; it's got to be at least 20 years. You make a good point.

I guess the logistics of having all the different gates in close proximity to the lounge has now made it logistically impossible in large hubs. Probably could still work in smaller airports.

Hi

I don't actually mind registering, it's the hypocrisy that gets me...

Do they believe that you average terrorist is a complete bozo who will -a- not register legally to get in or -b- be already resident waiting to blow up, or -c- think of some new way to circumvent DHS (remember the cracked vase)

Call it what it is - either a 10 year full visa, or a 2 year limited stay visa. Don't tell me that there is a visa waiver program, and then make me register for the non-visa.

BTW Did you know that Brazil now has a separate stream for US citizen, who need fingerprinting and photo identification prior to entry to Brazil. This is only for US citizens, and is a direct pay back for the US doing this to everyone crossing its borders. I think all countries should institute these 'tit-4-tat' measures until it becomes so difficult to travel anywhere that the entire system needs to be redesigned.

Cheers

Hal

Drew,

 

I know airports have lounges .. i was talking about TRANSIT lounges.

 

remember the days when you arrived in a country youwere just passing through and you had say 2 hours between flights.

You didn't have to check out and in .. you stayed on the checked in side and went to a transit lounge hence staying in international territory.

 

I don't understand why the major coastal hubs in the US like Miami, Atlanta, NYC, LAX etc etc all make you check out and then check in take ur bags back through security and then get on the plane when you could just stay in a transit lounge never entering the country. This would take a huge workload off the airport and make travelling a lot easier and in no way is a risk as everyone was checked at originating airport.

From what I have been told, some foreign airports do not meet FAA security requirements and if you are transiting through a U.S. airport from one, you will be required to meet U.S. secutity standards. When I transit from Indo through Singapore I am not even allowed into the Singapore airport proper without going through a security check first. Then I'm off to the transit lounge!

Giles

That's exactly what Matthew suggests on the end of the transit lounge. It's about security in this modern age of scared travellers.

Hal, China charges US citizens the same visa fees as the US charges Chinese citizens...every other country it's $30. Chile is smarter... they call it an administrative fee on entry...not a visa

So glad I have 2 passports.

Drew,

 

I know airports have lounges .. i was talking about TRANSIT lounges.

 

remember the days when you arrived in a country youwere just passing through and you had say 2 hours between flights.

You didn't have to check out and in .. you stayed on the checked in side and went to a transit lounge hence staying in international territory.

 

I don't understand why the major coastal hubs in the US like Miami, Atlanta, NYC, LAX etc etc all make you check out and then check in take ur bags back through security and then get on the plane when you could just stay in a transit lounge never entering the country. This would take a huge workload off the airport and make travelling a lot easier and in no way is a risk as everyone was checked at originating airport.

This is a beef with me too. Many major airports worldwide offer secure, in-transit facilities to travelers, including Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Frankfurt, Tokyo Narita, Singapore, to name a few. There is, to my recollection, always a security check somewhere before you can go to the connecting departure gate, but these are smaller security stations as they are not receiving the masses streaming through the check in and departures halls, and although they are thorough, they do not have they typical half hour ++ line ups.

I have stood in line up to 2.5 hours in Miami and in Houston, whilst in transit to Canada. In Miami, I timed the processing of passengers in front of me in the "Foreigners" line on a recent trip - the average time to process a passenger was 10 minutes. For in transit passengers who are not entering the country they are transiting, this is ridiculous waste of time and human resources, not to mention the added inconvenience of picking up in transit bags, clearing them through customs, and then resubmitting them into the baggage handling system.

If not technically entering the US, just transiting through, why does one need to subject oneself to the US Customs & Immigrations boondoggle?

J.

If not technically entering the US, just transiting through, why does one need to subject oneself to the US Customs & Immigrations boondoggle?

I guess so they can't blow up the transit lounge. Although, I can't think why someone would do that when they could have blown up the plane on landing.