bureaucratic coughry

[BCons]

My sister, an Aust citizen in her 60's, long resident in the US, has been home for a week to attend our elderly father's passing and funeral. Her return trip was able to be brought forward a day, but then turned into chaos because of Thursday's weather disruption in Sydney.

So instead of flying direct to Syd (cancelled), instead she flew HBA to MEL, overnighted MEL and then flew early today to Sydney to connect to her LAX flight. At check-in a long delay because the global passport system was down, so no BPs could be printed. Eventually that's sorted and she heads airside. Here's her email prior to boarding :

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got through to customs and after the eGate was stopped by two customs officers and escorted to an area by myself in front of hundreds of people, asked to surrender my passport and phone and told to wait. No explanation.

Then another two officers escorted me through several back hallways and through 2 locked doors into an inspection room.

They proceeded to interrogate me, and search every single item in my bag - every scrap of paper. Looking for money laundering I guess. It was the limit and I did cry. but they kept going and left all my belongings in a huge pile and said they were just doing their job. Apparently a disrupted trip sends up a red flag.

Awful awful awful.
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Happy Xmas Border Force - yes I know, just doing yr job..

 

[JohnK]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Not my favourite people made worse by my recent run-ins with my damaged passport.

 

[marki]

Oh So so sorry to hear this. This behavior deserves such a title. It is coughy. Thanks peaceful religion

 

[UP4014]

Sorry for the loss.

The people skills of boarder force ranks at the bottom of the species and often little recourse.

Social media posting is fast becoming the only way to feel satisfied.

 

[Forg]

i suspect this is a result of the same problem you see with police; an us vs them mentality, where the ‘us’ are trying to be good & righteous and the ‘them’ are all just trying to break the law (and yeah you can only catch the ‘them’ every so often because the ‘them’ are so crafty & evil but that’s not because the ‘them’ isn’t always scheming & plotting ways to break the rules).

 

[Hvr]

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/...taff-bullied-or-harassed-20181203-p50juw.html
One in five Australian Border Force staff have recently been bullied or harassed at work and the same proportion has suffered discrimination, according to leaked internal documents that confirm the deeply toxic culture corroding the quasi-military agency.

The shocking findings cast serious doubt on claims by the Department of Home Affairs, overseen by minister Peter Dutton, that takes a "zero tolerance" approach to unacceptable behaviour, and have prompted questions over the organisation's overall effectiveness.

The Australian Border Force, which merged customs, immigration and border protection, has been controversial since its inception in 2015. Critics questioned the military-style uniforms and hardline, "hairy chested" image of the agency, which in recent years has outspent the Department of Defence on medals for its staff.

There are are huge cultural issues in the ABF and it seems they treat their own as badly as travellers who are essentially powerless.

 

[Pushka]

I’m sorry for your family’s loss. There are some who will say that they are just doing their job but there are ways and means of doing their jobs without being brutal.

 

[BCons]

My sister changed her US return booking on Tues or Wed, and she flew on Fri.

So that’s a fair bit of time for B Farce to do a bit of checking if they were concerned about a booking change - like her travel history incl diamond level Delta FF status, obits and funeral notices, age, profile to suggest just a few leads.. sheesh..

 

[Denali]

I once had a co worker who arrived at LAX and same, passport removed, taken to a room searched and questioned for an hour or so. Seems her name was same/similar enough to someone on a no entry list. Her husband and children were left waiting with no communication during the search/questioning.

I'm sorry your sister had to go through that.

 

[BCons]

I once had a co worker who arrived at LAX and same, passport removed, taken to a room searched and questioned for an hour or so. Seems her name was same/similar enough to someone on a no entry list. Her husband and children were left waiting with no communication during the search/questioning.

I'm sorry your sister had to go through that.

This happened leaving Sydney to an Aust citizen.. cud sort-of understand it happening on arrival in US, ev3n to long-term green card holder.

 

[drron]

As I have said before I have been stripped searched when transitting LHR.And I mean stripped not the Walled story of having to unbutton his jeans.No reason given.So it happens everywhere.

 

[luxury-lizard]

I don't often respond to posts of this nature (ie complaints) but this is so outrageous I am aghast - perhaps go to the press - this is "front page" worthy. What has become of our officials and common sense.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

For the OP's sister, I feel disappointed.

However generally, (in no way meaning to imply misdeeds by the OP's sister) , being Australian does not mean a squeaky slate. We have some real a**eholes here and we (as a nation) hold our borderforce officers accountable if they let that scum survive and flourish.

Let's be genuine and acknowledge that errors in judgement will occur until we can play God and look into others souls (which I also assume, most of us do NOT want).

Many of us travel frequently. Some of us have had issues (real or mundane). I, sometimes get the irrits with officialdom (OK, more than sometimes) but those irritations seem to disperse when I open a newspaper or news site and read of another atrocity committed by some prick who believes the world should pay.

The customs and quarantine people are protecting us. I struggle to condemn them for what amounts to, a perceived embassasement or insult. We travel and we need to accept the irrations of travel ... IMHO.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to say, a mate of mine, an Australian born and bred citizen, living with his wife and child in SIN, had to be dragged aside every two weeks due to a "chip" error in his AU passport. It's not rare for an error in technology. Thank heavens, or I'd be on the scrap heap by now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This type of behaviour (by border agents) is awful.

They claim it is based on 'intelligence' - but I wonder how often they get it wrong rather than right.

This is a departure search a level or two above a regular 'SSSS'. While we will never know, it sounds like this could have been triggered by some sort of mistaken identity on a US watch list.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Those people are protecting us. I struggle to condemn them for what amounts to, a perceived embassasement or insult. We travel and we need to accept the irrations of travel ... IMHO.

Are they? From what? Passengers have their documents checked and bags and passengers go through x-ray and explosives checks. What threat is left after that? Passengers travelling for underage sex and to join overseas terror cells. Does the OP's sister reasonably fit the profile for one of those?

Just because we travel doesn't mean we should just give up our rights. If a police officer did this out on the street they would be held accountable.

 

[BCons]

This type of behaviour (by border agents) is awful.

They claim it is based on 'intelligence' - but I wonder how often they get it wrong rather than right.

This is a departure search a level or two above a regular 'SSSS'. While we will never know, it sounds like this could have been triggered by some sort of mistaken identity on a US watch list.

The ‘intelligence’ was a change in return booking Aus to US. The lack of intelligence was apparently leaving any inspection of the background/reason until the poor punter came thru immigration. Only then do they seem to jump on the reasons she changed a return flight by a day.. this to a seriously frequent FF.. it’s dumb, not intelligent..

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Are they? From what?...
Just because we travel doesn't mean we should just give up our rights. If a police officer did this out on the street they would be held accountable.

Funny old term, is "rights". Applies to law enforcement, but not criminals.
Well, I never placed you as a "technology fixes all sins" type of person.
What you wrote may apply to a percentage of misdeeds, but not all.

And if a police officer caused distess and delay with reason, then they would likely be thanked, but customs are very different to police.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The ‘intelligence’ was a change in return booking Aus to US. The lack of intelligence was apparently leaving any inspection of the background/reason until the poor punter came thru immigration. Only then do they seem to jump on the reasons she changed a return flight by a day.. this to a seriously frequent FF.. it’s dumb, not intelligent..

The US does security checks now in foreign ports (used to be the UK but seems to have spread over the last year or so). While it may have been stated that 'change in travel plans' was the reason - this sounds like more than that.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Funny old term, is "rights". Applies to law enforcement, but not criminals.
Well, I never placed you as a "technology fixes all sins" type of person.
What you wrote may apply to a percentage of misdeeds, but not all.

And if a police officer caused distess and delay with reason, then they would likely be thanked, but customs are very different to police.

It's not about protecting criminals, it's about protecting the innocent.

If you can't randomly stop someone on the street without a good cause, why is it all of a sudden ok at an airport?

The imbalance of power is huge in these situations, yet there are few, if any, safeguards.

 

[Pushka]

The ‘intelligence’ was a change in return booking Aus to US. The lack of intelligence was apparently leaving any inspection of the background/reason until the poor punter came thru immigration. Only then do they seem to jump on the reasons she changed a return flight by a day.. this to a seriously frequent FF.. it’s dumb, not intelligent..

Wouldn’t that intelligence also have gathered information about weather and flight cancellations? Or do we overlook the obvious?