And so our liberties continue to be erroded as security trumps liberty.Last night I caught a flight from Bratislava airport. I use it very often, some 6 times alone this year. They had installed a new entry scanning point, just after the front doors (they closed off the alternate doors).One went thru’ what looked like a pulse inductor metal detector (but likely wasn’t!) with a few security personnel milling about. Explosives detector?
Is this to avoid what happened in Brussels? I don’t quite see the point of moving where the bomb might be detonated…? Less likely to have people congregating?For the first time I was selected for additional swabbing(?) after I went through the usual pulse induction metal detecor at the hand-baggage x-ray & security screening. I didn’t set it off but an alarm beeped, announcing that I was randomly selected to have a security bloke pass a sample/speciman cloth over the back of my hands and palms and under my shirt around the waist. It was then fed into some analysing device, giving me the all clear (green!). Drugs? Explosives? :-s What do I know, it was all in Slovakian.My passport expired a year ago (I know, I know) so I am travelling on a national ID within the EU but which is the older version (i.e. not so super-duper advanced, not chipped with info about my dog and neighbour’s library books etc) and man, did I struggle to get through. Just in case I carry my expired passport and sure enough, they prefered it to my national ID despite my photo being 11 years old :p They don’t see many Portuguese nationals pass through their border so I expect them to be more cautious…Usually when going through British security they recognise my type of ID. But this time, it was subjected to far more than the usual when I arrived in London…The airline folks were just as funny too. They declared my plastic card wasn’t a national ID (despite having passed passport control already) and despite it stating it was one in 3 languages, including French & English. She checked with her supervisor and once I again produced my expired passport, allowed on-board…Slovaks without passports breezed on by me with their sleek, chipped, ultra modern credit-card sized national IDs. Poor little me.
I really need to get a new passport and new national ID (and driver’s licence!) sorted out. Pretty soon without an ID that hands over my iris-scan, finger-prints, recent photo and uncle’s pet name, I won’t be allowed to travel.
Flash Gordon about 8 years ago
I fear our government more than I fear the “bad guys”.
OmqR-IV.0 about 8 years ago
And so our liberties continue to be erroded as security trumps liberty.Last night I caught a flight from Bratislava airport. I use it very often, some 6 times alone this year. They had installed a new entry scanning point, just after the front doors (they closed off the alternate doors).One went thru’ what looked like a pulse inductor metal detector (but likely wasn’t!) with a few security personnel milling about. Explosives detector?
Is this to avoid what happened in Brussels? I don’t quite see the point of moving where the bomb might be detonated…? Less likely to have people congregating?For the first time I was selected for additional swabbing(?) after I went through the usual pulse induction metal detecor at the hand-baggage x-ray & security screening. I didn’t set it off but an alarm beeped, announcing that I was randomly selected to have a security bloke pass a sample/speciman cloth over the back of my hands and palms and under my shirt around the waist. It was then fed into some analysing device, giving me the all clear (green!). Drugs? Explosives? :-s What do I know, it was all in Slovakian.My passport expired a year ago (I know, I know) so I am travelling on a national ID within the EU but which is the older version (i.e. not so super-duper advanced, not chipped with info about my dog and neighbour’s library books etc) and man, did I struggle to get through. Just in case I carry my expired passport and sure enough, they prefered it to my national ID despite my photo being 11 years old :p They don’t see many Portuguese nationals pass through their border so I expect them to be more cautious…Usually when going through British security they recognise my type of ID. But this time, it was subjected to far more than the usual when I arrived in London…The airline folks were just as funny too. They declared my plastic card wasn’t a national ID (despite having passed passport control already) and despite it stating it was one in 3 languages, including French & English. She checked with her supervisor and once I again produced my expired passport, allowed on-board…Slovaks without passports breezed on by me with their sleek, chipped, ultra modern credit-card sized national IDs. Poor little me.
I really need to get a new passport and new national ID (and driver’s licence!) sorted out. Pretty soon without an ID that hands over my iris-scan, finger-prints, recent photo and uncle’s pet name, I won’t be allowed to travel.
Uncle Joe Premium Member about 8 years ago
“Almost like they didn’t want too many people to travel…”Jeez, what next? Borders walls manned by armed guards? Oh… wait….