Last year, I was stopped from boarding a flight on Fri evening by FBI agents. Apparently, they had report's of 'unusual activity', specifically people changing seats on the monday's flight.
I found this absurd since I had never budged from my seat. Moreover, I was in the business class which is a tiny area of six seats and I never noticed anyone switching seats either.
I missed my flight while they asked detailed questions.
Then it turned out they were as puzzled as I was since I was obviously no threat to anyone... They finally decided it was probably a typo in the report which messed up the date or flight. (One agent hinted this).
However, the agents were very polite. The apologized profusely for the inconvinience and even talked to the airlines themselves to help me get a priority seating on the next flight back home.
I travel every week and I have never been bothered again.
While I was being questioned, I was of course, hugely embarassed and slightly resentful of being singled out. On further reflection, however, I changed my opinion. First of all, the agents never 'pick' on you just because they are bored. They receive a report before they do that. So if you have to blame anyone, blame the do-gooders with hyperactive imaginations who see suspicious activity in the most mundane actions. The agents are simply doing their job. Second, the FBI was exceptionally polite with me, especially when compared with similar agencies of most countries. (OK, at least from my home country). Third, most important, I fly every week. My life depends on these guys doing their job. If they had not questioned me in detail, I would have liked it for like 10 mins, but then I would probalbly have preferred to drive the next week onwards! Just my opinion.
I found this absurd since I had never budged from my seat. Moreover, I was in the business class which is a tiny area of six seats and I never noticed anyone switching seats either.
I missed my flight while they asked detailed questions.
Then it turned out they were as puzzled as I was since I was obviously no threat to anyone... They finally decided it was probably a typo in the report which messed up the date or flight. (One agent hinted this).
However, the agents were very polite. The apologized profusely for the inconvinience and even talked to the airlines themselves to help me get a priority seating on the next flight back home.
I travel every week and I have never been bothered again.
While I was being questioned, I was of course, hugely embarassed and slightly resentful of being singled out. On further reflection, however, I changed my opinion. First of all, the agents never 'pick' on you just because they are bored. They receive a report before they do that. So if you have to blame anyone, blame the do-gooders with hyperactive imaginations who see suspicious activity in the most mundane actions. The agents are simply doing their job. Second, the FBI was exceptionally polite with me, especially when compared with similar agencies of most countries. (OK, at least from my home country). Third, most important, I fly every week. My life depends on these guys doing their job. If they had not questioned me in detail, I would have liked it for like 10 mins, but then I would probalbly have preferred to drive the next week onwards! Just my opinion.
