3 ms·

I'm a remote worker and have travelled a lot for fun in the past two years. While checking into a flight from AMS headed to USA, I was told as a prerequisite to

I'm a remote worker and have travelled a lot for fun in the past two years. While checking into a flight from AMS headed to USA, I was told as a prerequisite to getting my boarding pass I needed to talk to an agent from the US Department of the State. He asked me many detailed questions about my travels and said I was considered a person of interest. He stressed that they may in the future not allow me to enter the USA (I'm a citizen of USA). It seems likely he was just trying to scare me, but it was still was quite jarring. I'm a fairly normal US citizen (I don't associate with political people, no criminal record, never been to a country not known for tourism). I believe I was flagged just from traveling between Turkey and Russia. Since then when I fly I cant use online check-in, my boarding pass is marked SSSS and I am taken into the backroom for questioning at border control. Maybe these extra precautions keep the USA safe, but it certainly seemed excessively paranoid.

fooker 8y ago
Wow
chriselles 8y ago
Double wow. I’m also an expat US citizen traveling regularly to the US. I’ve even travelled to a couple of conflict countries a number of times for work in recent years. Never had a problem re-entering/visiting over 50 times.
raarts 8y ago
> they may in the future not allow me to enter the USA (I'm a citizen of USA). I always thought that if you're a US citizen you cannot be denied entry into the United States, though you might be delayed.
- travelman3000 8y ago
  That is my understanding as well, and the main reason why I thought he was just trying to scare me. However, they can place me on the no flylist, but I believe that this is run by a different branch of the government.
Vinnl 8y ago
> I don't associate with political people, (...) never been to a country not known for tourism Interestingly, I would argue that it should be perfectly fine for these two, especially the first one. Harassing the friends of political people would not be odd behaviour for a totalitarian state.
adrr 8y ago
Sounds like you're on the do not fly list. A friend of mine got added because his honeymoon trip included a few African and middle east countries. I think you can petition to get yourself off of it.
rsync 8y ago
"While checking into a flight from AMS headed to USA, I was told as a prerequisite to getting my boarding pass I needed to talk to an agent from the US Department of the State. He asked me many detailed questions about my travels and said I was considered a person of interest. He stressed that they may in the future not allow me to enter the USA (I'm a citizen of USA)." I recently flew from Zurich home to San Francisco and prior to boarding the plane in Zurich I was interviewed by a state department employee. She was very nice and at no time indicated that I was special or "of interest", etc. She did, however, drill pretty deeply into where I had been and what I was doing. I have traveled to Switzerland relatively frequently over the past ten years and this was the first time I had seen this.
krageon 8y ago
I suspect there are a significant amount of snap judgements being made, and I would be very surprised if they kept anyone safe. One of the many examples is that when I traveled a lot, I quickly noticed that if I have had a recent shave and have my hair cut short (no longer than to the end of the ear) I do not get picked out. If I have long hair or a goatee, I will get picked out for extra questioning (dogs in bags, bomb swabs, extra-strict questioning by border officials, regular bag search, etc) every time.

fooker 8y ago

Wow

chriselles 8y ago

Double wow. I’m also an expat US citizen traveling regularly to the US. I’ve even travelled to a couple of conflict countries a number of times for work in recent years. Never had a problem re-entering/visiting over 50 times.

raarts 8y ago

> they may in the future not allow me to enter the USA (I'm a citizen of USA). I always thought that if you're a US citizen you cannot be denied entry into the United States, though you might be delayed.

travelman3000 8y ago
That is my understanding as well, and the main reason why I thought he was just trying to scare me. However, they can place me on the no flylist, but I believe that this is run by a different branch of the government.

Vinnl 8y ago

> I don't associate with political people, (...) never been to a country not known for tourism Interestingly, I would argue that it should be perfectly fine for these two, especially the first one. Harassing the friends of political people would not be odd behaviour for a totalitarian state.

adrr 8y ago

Sounds like you're on the do not fly list. A friend of mine got added because his honeymoon trip included a few African and middle east countries. I think you can petition to get yourself off of it.

rsync 8y ago

"While checking into a flight from AMS headed to USA, I was told as a prerequisite to getting my boarding pass I needed to talk to an agent from the US Department of the State. He asked me many detailed questions about my travels and said I was considered a person of interest. He stressed that they may in the future not allow me to enter the USA (I'm a citizen of USA)." I recently flew from Zurich home to San Francisco and prior to boarding the plane in Zurich I was interviewed by a state department employee. She was very nice and at no time indicated that I was special or "of interest", etc. She did, however, drill pretty deeply into where I had been and what I was doing. I have traveled to Switzerland relatively frequently over the past ten years and this was the first time I had seen this.

krageon 8y ago

I suspect there are a significant amount of snap judgements being made, and I would be very surprised if they kept anyone safe. One of the many examples is that when I traveled a lot, I quickly noticed that if I have had a recent shave and have my hair cut short (no longer than to the end of the ear) I do not get picked out. If I have long hair or a goatee, I will get picked out for extra questioning (dogs in bags, bomb swabs, extra-strict questioning by border officials, regular bag search, etc) every time.