$5Au was required by Human Resources to suspend an instructor for this reason as they feared any female student who might be pregnant would give birth to a deformed baby. It was BS, but had the child been born with a birth defect, the College might get sued regardless.

Lol!!

I'm scared to ask questions about this.

We were detained by customs in Aruba because the seeds in my husband's prostate set off a radiation detector. The agent didn't quite know what to do - he asked us what type of isotope was used - what? Never thought that would be something to worry about but now we take medical records when we travel. Just an FYI.....

Agreed.

El Al offered to write a playbook for TSA. El Al's security chief decided they would not offend the dignity of their passengers. This silly business of suspecting everybody and doing virtual body searches on all passengers was one thing they did *not* do. But El Al had one agenda, and TSA had another. And I don't think the TSA agenda was about protecting flights. It was and is about restricting travel.

El Al IS that good. Your "Security Inspection" starts as soon as you walk up to one of their ticket agents (or if on their "home turf", as soon as you're on Airport Property) and doesn't stop until you deplane. They keep plainclothes security personnel at airports that have El Al flights, and every one of them are trained observers - and if ANYTHING is the slightest bit hinkey, guess who's not flying on their airlines until it's all straightened out. And they make no qualms about it - they would tell you right up front.

Someone told me they were the ones who wrote the TSA playbook, however having experienced both, TSA are pikers compared to ISS/El Al.

I will add that there are innocuous ways of using this assumption to one's benefit without being overtly dishonest. If you want to be invisible in a public setting, especially while "loitering", carry a clipboard and make a note every now and then. Should anyone ask (and chances are no one will), make some vague comment about "survey" or "inspection". And if they keep bothering you, take pen in hand and ask if they would like to participate in the survey.

Not sure whether this would still be true (though I wouldn't be at all surprised), but years ago I found that I never had any trouble hiking across private land as long as I had a camera slung around my neck (granted, I was working as a nature photographer, but even so). Binoculars and "bird watching" work well also. On the rare occasions that I encountered land owners, not only did they have no problem with my presence, they often pointed out places I might want to photograph and provided directions. Of course, had I been asked to leave I would have done so immediately.

If you look like you belong where you are or appear to have some sort of "status", virtually everyone will assume you are who you appear to be. Can be useful in "shrugging", but I also find it a bit scary.

Oh yes. There is a somewhat obscure book, "Cheaters Always Prosper", in which the author describes around 50 ways in which he supposedly "gamed the system" or similar, to his benefit. It can be enlightening reading, in that it shows the assumptions many people make and how they can be use to their disadvantage.

Not sure if it is still true, but I knew a couple years ago who got a new TV every 11 months, taking advantage of a retailer's one year return policy. They did not seem to have any qualms about it or even to regard what they were doing as dishonest.

Agreed. Most people initially want to believe that someone else is honest, which is why lying and deceit are so debilitating to society.

Worse, its all hype to keep the sheeple in fear. Fear = control.

I had this pretty cool CRKT Folder that used to live in my carry-on, unless I was traveling, where I was very conscious to put in my checked bag. It had been around the world more than once, and it was reliable as all get out.

Anyway, the stupid knife disappeared - I had thought it fell out of the bag somewhere, and figured it long gone.

Months (and many trips) later, I was coming back through Airport Security at Pulkovo (St Peterburg, Russia) to get to Domodedovo and then back home... and the Militia guy running the X-ray machine pulled my bag, and asked me what was in the bottom of it. I had no idea, and emptied it out - nothing there. He re-ran the empty bag, and said it was still there. Hmmm..

I pulled the lining of the bag, and there it was - the knife - had wedged itself into the framework of the bag. Oops.

He told me I could either send it to myself or check it, but I had to catch that flight to connect back out to SFO later that day (it was the last day on my visa) - and it left in 30 minutes. Bleah! Talk about embarrassing... (at least he was understanding about it... if it were TSA it *would* have ended badly...) I asked if I could surrender it, he asked me not to, as it was too nice a blade. But time was ticking... So I made a snap decision.

I told him it's story, that it had been around the world twice, and all over the US and Europe... Took his hand, handed it to him, and made him promise NOT to throw it out but keep it, use it, and take care of it. He kept asking "are you sure, are you sure?"...

I stood there until he turned his back (and slipped it into his pocket), thanked him and ran to catch the plane. OK, some may not understand... but the smile on his face was enough. I'm sure the adventures of that CRKT lives on... in St Petersburg.

At lease it didn't end up in the pseudo trash-bin of TSA's to get auctioned off as "recovered contraband"... As an aside, I found out (on a later trip) from Aviation Security in Moscow that they are required to give extra scrutiny to US bound passengers - especially if they have a US passport - at the request of TSA. Why am I not surprised...

The book is far more detailed than the movie, though was movie was "fun", casting notwithstanding. The main point made by the author in the book is that people tend very strongly to believe that when someone "looks right"....they are who they claim they are. Frank Abagnale was at various times a "doctor", a "professor", a law clerk for the state of Kentucky (I think), and I forget what else.

I quite agree that he would be unlikely to get away with at least some of his scams now due to changes in technology (some of them suggested by Frank Abagnale, who is now making a fortune as a security consultant). That said....when you see someone in a pilot's uniform, how often do you consider that s/he might be an impostor? I don't believe I ever have.

My father practiced law for 23 years. Not one, by his account, did anyone ever ask to see his license to practice.

At first I thought you were referring to the bottled water itself. That one to me is a laugher, since most bottled water is just packaged tap water, resold with a very nice markup.

It really is a fascinating story, as they use trained human beings to do what Americans (and most of the world, really) rely on technology for. And they haven't had an airplane hijacked or such in decades. Success is its own proof.

Most companies employ positive pay now, so it would be MUCH more difficult to do the check fraud thing.

Interesting movie, BTW, even though I'm not a big fan of Di Caprio.

It looks like today TSA has more than doubled the costs to everyone so that they can trash more water bottles, take away more nail clippers and forbid more laptops with dead batteries. Will we be more safe? We are less free.

Well, hey--El Al hasn't lost a plane yet. And the last time any perps even got on board was for the Dawson's Field incident. And then the captain threw his plane into a straight dive, then pulled up hard. So much for the perps.

hmmm you'd think a good terrorist would have a solid "story".

El Al is the national-flag airline of Israel.

And how do terrorists behave? They can't keep their stories straight under repeated grilling.

A twitch here, a detail out-of-place there, and the next thing you know...!

Because I didn't. I've never heard of El Al airlines and didn't know what you were talking about. Behavioral profiling.... how do terrorists "behave".

Well, you didn't say you flew on El Al Airlines, either. They're the only airline that does "behavioral profiling.":

I wasn't asked for a story.

El Al still handles their own security at airports worldwide. They still grill you to make sure you can keep your story straight.