Hacker News Reader

Comment by thaumasiotes | Hacker News Reader

I've done a fair amount of back-and-forth between the US and China. On my most recent entry (to the US), the phase 1 guy flagged me to have my carryon manually inspected because I took the trouble to answer his questions honestly (bizarrely, the search did not involve a search of my person, or my checked luggage, so I can't imagine what it was supposed to accomplish). That forced my mother to wait an extra hour to pick me up, so roughly midnight instead of 11:00. Lesson learned, I guess. Never be honest with customs.

For reference - white US-born citizen (well, from a california perspective); never been in trouble.

View on HN

I've been to over 40 countries so far in my life. Be "honest", with Customs: tell them what they want to hear. Being logical, assuming they understand travel at all, is a recipe for disaster. I learnt that the hard way coming in to Heathrow!

Could you elaborate? What e.g. would be a common mistake? I have traveled a little bit in past (asia, europe, north america), but never had any trouble with customs / immigration.

Minimum information necessary, fit the stereotypical profile that you have the visa status for. For example: On vacation, on a long vacation, and I fund it with my job savings. Business visitor who already has a business visa, student who already has a student visa, etc.

To me as an European it already crazy enough, that the US even interviews it's own citizens. In the EU if you are an EU citizen you just get waived though at immigration. (At might still get checked later at customs but that is a 1 in 100 chance).

And woe be unto you if you refuse: http://knifetricks.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-am-detained-by-fed...

I read the whole thing and then read this part:

>3. This Is About Power, Not Security. The CBP goons want U.S. citizens to answer their questions as a ritualistic bow to their power. Well, CBP has no power over me. I am a law-abiding citizen, and, as such, I am the master, and the federal cops are my servants. They would do well to remember that.

Why would they do well to remember that? Do you have some kind of power that you can press on them? The last I looked CBP/ICE/DHS can legally make your life hell while you are in their control, so I am wondering if there is anything realistically you can do.

You can... get yourself in jail for days/weeks :-D.

Not really a lot of woe I see there. About half an hour of really minor beauocratic harassment. Absolutely nothing compared with what foreigners have gone through.

As a Canadian I've learned we seem to get practically waved through as well. The most pleasant immigration experiences I've ever had have been in Germany and France over the past few years. By far the least pleasant experiences have been travelling from Canada to the US.

I do however find it slightly irritating that no ID at all is needed to fly from Germany to Sweden. Repeatedly, the only thing needed at all was the number on the e-ticket. Not even a check of whether the ticket was in my name.

That's the way things ought to be.

Do you need ID to travel from L.A. to Phoenix?

> Do you need ID to travel from L.A. to Phoenix?

By commercial air, yes; in the US, you need ID and a matching boarding pass to enter the secured area of an airport, which is an essential prerequisite to boarding an airplane.

Then answer this bizarre question; Why would a person with the intention of doing some stunt use mismatching documents? If this person is a terrorist or some kind of outlaw, would not s/he use fake docs telling a story reputable to customs officers/TSA?

I believe this security theatre is nothing but a money sink hole. Use whatever means are necessary to make transportation unpleasant to honest travelers if it does not even mean to stop any outlaw.

It's the easiest question you can ask and one of the simplest security processes you can ever put in place.

Let's assume you are a bad person on the no fly list.

1) Go to an airport, hang around the bathrooms in the pre-security area. Wait till somebody drops a boarding pass. Board a plane and do bad things.

2) Go to an airport, have an associate who's not on the no fly list buy a boarding pass. He gives it to you. Board a plane and do bad things.

Both are scenarios that are stopped by simply requiring matching ID and are lower effort then getting fake IDs.

There is no need for these scenarios. I would just print out some obscure countries ID and / or passport with basic printing utilities. And a boarding pass? Does not even require any special deal.

You haven't flown in a while. Boarding passes are tied to the flight and scanned on boarding. An invalid pass means no getting on the plane. Unless you can generate a valid pass without doing any special deal you've already been thwarted by the simplest part of the security mechanism.

I'm not a US citizen please give my ignorance to this.

They've done it the last few times I've been overseas. Just part of the normal "let's make sure people don't get confused and don't board the wrong plane" kind of thing.

Really? Do you know when that policy changed? As of 2012 it was quite possible to fly without a photo id. (e.g. http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/flying-without-a-p...)

I read that as "to have my canyon manually inspected", which would have been a very different experience.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com