Security, Immigration & Border Control

[User001]

And that's the thing.

We may be 'the paying customer' but the point of security is to ensure safety, convenience comes second in my opinion.

Yes, it would be nice for 100% scrutinised safety within 5 mins (and in quiet periods this is possible), but, as said, if it takes an hour to make sure 'everything checks out' during a busy period, that's fine by me.

To paraphrase what the TSA said to me during an observation at LAX 'every single person is suspect until we clear them through security', and unfortunately, that's the way we have to look at it. 'Guilty until proven innocent' if you will.

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Problem is there will always be weak spots. Those tightly-packed queues where you wait 30 minutes with holdalls before reaching the actual security check itself. Or - perhaps as last night? - don't enter the security-swept event at all ... just wait for the throngs to emerge from the exits as the performance ends. Unfortunately, there is no way to provide 100% security. We can just move the vulnerabilities from a secure area to one of the many soft targets of opportunity. These moral-retards will easily locate an unprotected crowd to prey upon.

 

[Aviador]

Unfortunately there is no amount of security which could have prevented the events of last nights scenes in Manchester. The only way to avoid it is to stay away from large public areas wherever they might be.

 

[User001]

Terminal 2 currently evacuated and bomb disposal on site due to an unattended bag.

 

[Borneobob]

What is going on with the huge queues at passport control in Terminal 1? The MEN has reports on this almost every other day. Me and my wife returned from DBV off Jet2 a few Saturdays ago and experienced the chaos ourselves.
The technology at the e-gates seems totally inadequate for the job, with many people standing there for ages then being told to queue again for manual checks.
I am a great supporter of my local airport, flying from here many times each year, but just reading some of the comments on twitter about peoples experiences is worrying.
MAG's response just seems to be that it is out of their control, but surely even they can see the bad publicity this is creating and has the potential to be really damaging for the airports reputation.
Can anyone shed any light on what is going on, and what if anything is being done to sort it out.

 

[Aviador]

In light of recent terror events, it might be that there are increased security procedures?

 

[Borneobob]

Increased security procedures at security for departures are understandable I agree, but the queues are at arrivals, and are other UK airports experiencing the same problems at arrivals as MAN?

 

[Aviador]

My sister flew out of Leeds a couple of weeks ago and she said the outbound queues were very long. It may well have been because of school holidays?

 

[Borneobob]

The security check queues at terminal 1 at MAN on our outbound flight were fine , I would say not any worse than any other in the last few years, and I like everyone also am glad that the outbound checks are rigorous.
It is the queues at passport control at arrivals, which is causing the most complaints from arriving passengers.
It also seems to be always T1 and occasionally T3 that seem to be experiencing these problems.

 

[User001]

There seems to be a lack of border officers in T1 and T3 which seems to be down to the fact there are more E-gates, and thus UKBF deem that 'acceptable staffing'. It doesn't account for technical errors, people unable to use the gates and so on.

Hopefully it will be addressed in the next few months, as it takes time to train new officers etc.

 

[EGCC_MAN]

Well, I've just passed through MAN for the 31st time so far this calendar year (2017). And during that time I've used all three terminals at various times of day, peak and off-peak. I cannot recall any occasion on which I've endured the super-queues hotly-debated on other forums. Yes, a handful of upto 20-minute queues, but also many more straight through with no delay at all. Perhaps I've simply been very fortunate ... I have endured mega-queues at MAN on one-off occasions in previous years, but it seems to me that MAN's reputation for permanent lengthy queues is overblown and unfair. I've passed through many other airports which have been significantly slower at both immigration and security.

One issue I have gradually become aware of is the extremely poor operational performance of the new bodyscanners at security. These highlight areas of body perspiration as a hazard mandating a hand-search and pat-down. I know, lots of scope for deadly B.O. jokes here, but the underlying point is a serious one. If everybody who perspires a little whilst lugging suitcases through a stressful airport environment at all hours is sidelined for an individual pat-down, that has to be seriously slowing down passenger security processing. A patch of body sweat is not going to bring down an A320 or a B737 (or will B.O. cause the flightcrew to pass out?!).

I would be interested to learn whether this issue is down to an inherent design-flaw in these machines or whether staff at Manchester are routinely using incorrect sensitivity settings. But if this problem isn't resolved, alot of security staff time and attention is being diverted away from the real job at hand ... finding genuine security threats. The set-up actually becomes less secure with staff constantly distracted by unnecessary searches. And regular travellers will become cynical towards religiously emptying pockets, removing watches and belts etc. only to be manually searched on every single occasion regardless. Why even bother? Keep your gear in your pockets. Save time. With these useless scanners you're inevitably going to face a pat-down anyway. Passengers need to be incentivised to do the right thing. They'll stop wasting their time on meticulous preparations if these scanners are going to produce a false positive result every single time. I have zero confidence in them already.

Are the Manchester Airport bodyscanners incorrectly set up? Or are they just inherently poorly-designed? I'd appreciate feedback from anybody who has experience of working with the things. Right now they're a very expensive failure. Isn't there a tangible difference between a patch of sweat and a gun? Can't the very latest high-cost hardware cope with this challenging conundrum?

 

[Coathanger16]

but it seems to me that MAN's reputation for permanent lengthy queues is overblown and unfair.

I think the issue here is that most people only use a particular airport once or twice a year, so when they do use it, if there is a long delay at security, that is their overwhelming memory of the airport - and that applies to all airports.

When someone such as yourself uses an airport on a regular basis, those incidents are very much in the minority, so the overwhelming memory of the airport is not such a bad once, perhaps even a good one.

I would be interested to learn whether this issue is down to an inherent design-flaw in these machines or whether staff at Manchester are routinely using incorrect sensitivity settings. But if this problem isn't resolved, alot of security staff time and attention is being diverted away from the real job at hand ... finding genuine security threats. The set-up actually becomes less secure with staff constantly distracted by unnecessary searches. And regular travellers will become cynical towards religiously emptying pockets, removing watches and belts etc. only to be manually searched on every single occasion regardless. Why even bother? Keep your gear in your pockets. Save time. With these useless scanners you're inevitably going to face a pat-down anyway. Passengers need to be incentivised to do the right thing. They'll stop wasting their time on meticulous preparations if these scanners are going to produce a false positive result every single time. I have zero confidence in them already.

Another concern here is that security staff could become complacent when doing their searches. If this is happening on a regular basis with an ensuing search finding nothing, searches could become less rigorous which could lead to a potential threat being overlooked.

 

[Land23R]

These highlight areas of body perspiration as a hazard mandating a hand-search and pat-down. I know, lots of scope for deadly B.O. jokes here, but the underlying point is a serious one. If everybody who perspires a little whilst lugging suitcases through a stressful airport environment at all hours is sidelined for an individual pat-down, that has to be seriously slowing down passenger security processing. A patch of body sweat is not going to bring down an A320 or a B737 (or will B.O. cause the flightcrew to pass out?!).

This actually chimes with my own experience when I passed through T2 a few weeks ago. I was called aside for a pat-down followed by a scan with the security chap's hand-held gadget but he still wasn't satisfied. He asked me whether I used hand cream (which I don't) but I had applied some deep heat gel the previous evening for ageing muscles. That didn't seem to interest him. He then proceeded to put what looked like a small piece of blue material close to my skin. At this stage, I rechecked my pockets and found a small nasal inhaler which I assumed was the culprit, but no, it wasn't that. I was told to stay there and he briefly disappeared (to talk to his supervisor?). When he returned, I was told it was ok and I could go.

The guy was perfectly polite but it left me puzzled as to what the issue had been. I never thought to ask him the reason and he may not have told me anyway. If the explanation is as EGCC_MAN indicates, then it really is a problem. My previous trip was through T1 2 months earlier did not encounter the same experience.

 

[Dobbo]

I find delays as frustrating as the next person, in that regard MAN should have kicked off the TP years ago (easy to say with hindsight).

However the overwhelming priority is safety, and provided they do their job, are not complacent, and catch whatever they need to catch, I'm happy.

 

[Scottie Dog]

I seem to recall a similar situation with a swab when I flew to YVR last year. It only took a minute though and I'm more than happy to comply if it keeps us all safe.

 

[Land23R]

I seem to recall a similar situation with a swab when I flew to YVR last year. It only took a minute though and I'm more than happy to comply if it keeps us all safe.

Yes, I guess 'swab' is the correct term. In which case, he may have gone off to check what my swab showed.
The delay was short and I have no problem at all with security being paramount. But I still feel technology should be able to differentiate between perspiration (if that is the issue) and potentially dangerous substances which it appears is what is being detected.

 

[User001]

The machines are set to the minimum standard required by the DfT.

The fact the machines pick up perspiration and moisture is frustrating, however, the point of the machine is to pick up anomalies on clothing or on the person, and unfortunately I am not allowed to say on a public forum why it was decided that the machine is also set to dectect moisture.

I truly and honestly don't mean this in any nasty way, but, it's just one of these things that we have to accept happens now.

On the other hand, if people realised that the back scatters were not a machine for security staff to snigger at people and that they were actually excellent at identifying real threats, and thus brought them back, the process could be very quick and efficient.

After witnessing the security process at Almeria airport yesterday, I'll take the MAN process any day. Utter shambles and, well, pointless at LEI!

 

[Aviador]

Counter-terror detectives sacked for skipping duties at Manchester Airport
Two counter-terrorism officers have been sacked after an investigation revealed they had been skipping their duties whilst on nightshift at Manchester Airport.

It has emerged that Jason Coman and Jennifer Gold had been neglecting their roles which included checking airline passenger lists and stopping suspects.

More on this story can be found here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...detectives-sacked-skipping-duties-manchester/​

 

[David_itl]

Time to throw in my observations... just back from a trip to Amsterdam. Passing through T3 on the day of Storm Eleanor (our KLM flight was delayed by over 2 hours), my brother and I got through security in 15 or so minutes despite the early morning delays and cancellations. Not good for the nervous flyer was seeing a few aircraft being buffeted just before landing! Came back this afternoon and it was literally no more than 5 minutes going the e-gates in T3

 

[Aviador]

One million smuggled cigarettes found hidden inside foot stools seized at Manchester Airport
The fake Lambert and Butler cigarettes, which would have cheated the authorities of nearly £400,000 in tax, was intercepted at Manchester Airport

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ne-million-smuggled-cigarettes-found-14127584

You wouldn't believe people would go to such an effort to smuggle cigarettes.