Crew screening

[av8ts]

I heard a rumor that starting in November there will be mandatory screening for all crewmembers. No more green arrows or randomizers. Did someone get a new position at TC?

[prop2jet]

Not a rumour... Expect long line at a crew bypass, sorry, ahh, crew screening point. Maybe the randomizer will now be used for random thorough screening...

[ahramin]

I haven't seen anything from TC yet.

However if we are talking strictly rumours, the only one I've heard that I think might be correct is that all entry points will have random screening. Which might not sound so bad but what it actually means in this day and age is that all entry points that don't have random screening will be closed. Last time I went through Vancouver it appeared they had already dealt with this with no delays added, but I'd be surprised if Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, or Winnipeg was anything other that a total disaster.

So yes, I'd give yourself an extra 15 minutes in November until we know the details and see how they work out.

[prop2jet]

Give an extra 15 min??? I would say you should just report for duty at the appointed hour and conduct whatever pre flight duties you have and proceed to the screening point as you did in the past. If the flight is delayed, so be it. If there are significant delays then I guess the air carriers are going to have to have a heart to heart with TC on the issue. Once again, the TC bureaucrats only know how to make blanket decisions and policies.

[teacher]

Give an extra 15 min??? I would say you should just report for duty at the appointed hour and conduct whatever pre flight duties you have and proceed to the screening point as you did in the past. If the flight is delayed, so be it. If there are significant delays then I guess the air carriers are going to have to have a heart to heart with TC on the issue. Once again, the TC bureaucrats only know how to make blanket decisions and policies.

100% correct sir

[ahramin]

I hear you prop. Imagine how much better this country would be if the pilots and airlines refused to accept this ridiculousness from security dougheads.

[razorblade]

Give an extra 15 min??? I would say you should just report for duty at the appointed hour and conduct whatever pre flight duties you have and proceed to the screening point as you did in the past. If the flight is delayed, so be it. If there are significant delays then I guess the air carriers are going to have to have a heart to heart with TC on the issue. Once again, the TC bureaucrats only know how to make blanket decisions and policies.

+1

There's a reason I filled out 4 pages of paper, and waited 3 months, gave up my history, family and friends' information, my shoe size, etc. - and that wasn't to have to go through security anyway.

[Sleeve of Wizard]

Give an extra 15 min??? I would say you should just report for duty at the appointed hour and conduct whatever pre flight duties you have and proceed to the screening point as you did in the past. If the flight is delayed, so be it. If there are significant delays then I guess the air carriers are going to have to have a heart to heart with TC on the issue. Once again, the TC bureaucrats only know how to make blanket decisions and policies.

+1

There's a reason I filled out 4 pages of paper, and waited 3 months, gave up my history, family and friends' information, my shoe size, etc. - and that wasn't to have to go through security anyway.

Yeah... I agree with you, but there's nothing stopping people from receiving their security clearance and then carrying things across security that they shouldn't.

I think spot checks are necessary. If full screening on every security passage will be the norm, CATSA seriously needs to improve their methods; ie YYZ post US customs and YUL where they manually search your bags.

[DBR]

CATSA are the hidden unemployment numbers of Canada, especially the ones occupying the crew bypass positions. A hypocrite joke.

I'm 100% for randomly checking crew members for drugs, or other smuggle items. But to check the bottom of my shoes, or to turn my phone or laptop on, just to make sure it's not a b@$mb... Give me a break. Get some sense of reality people. "Ow yeah, that crash axe in the flight deck, where is that for?" "OK, that uniform you're wearing, wait, you're in control of the airplane already... Huh?"

If this holds true, TC should look a bit more at what's been happening in the industry over the years. After the events 12 years back we locked the flight deck door and gave the keys to the pilots, degrading our work conditions, salaries, pensions etc. etc. in the process. There's been a few 'pilot melt downs while on duty' over the years (FedEX*/JetBlue/AC and likely some that didn't hit the media), all the while TC worries that we bring things on board that shouldn't be on an airplane...
Wouldn't these 'inflight melt downs' correlate at all with the work rules/conditions we operate under? Apparently it was in the JetBLue events from a few years back.

Food for thought.

Sigh...

DBR

[razorblade]

I'm all for random checks, you're right- nothing is stopping me from carrying things across security now that I have a red pass; as well as they need X-ray machines instead of the person there opening my bag every single time.

Having said that, so much for doing their job- I walk in first, and I get searched. The captain and FA is right behind me, and there's no room to search more than one person (YYZ post customs), so they walk right through.. I guess I can still make sure I walk behind someone else, and just as easily carry things across!

Moral of the story: Present "screen-everyone" state: Just as good/bad as random. Either actually search every single one, or let everyone go through. None of this middle BS.

[Sleeve of Wizard]

They took away the green/red button at YYZ (post US customs) in the last couple of weeks. I've been sent through search-free every time since. Are they still not-so-randomly searching people there?

[razorblade]

They took away the green/red button at YYZ (post US customs) in the last couple of weeks. I've been sent through search-free every time since. Are they still not-so-randomly searching people there?

I've been searched the last 7 out of 8 times..

[sstaurus]

Ah #^%*% crew screening puts me in a bad mood every morning. I have nothing nice to say to those people so I say nothing at all.

I prefer to follow someone else or stop to tie my shoe and let someone else ahead. TC can bite the big one here as far as I'm concerned.

[Donald]

It adds a whole new line to the repertoire of an FO:

"I'll take the fat one"

"Must've been a gust"

And now...

"Hold on, I'll go through by-pass first"

[Rockie]

I don't mind getting searched at all, in fact I think a blanket policy is the best one there is...no exceptions. Not airport employees, not the police, not customs, not CATSA personnel, not firemen, not paramedics, not the CEO of the GTAA or the Minister of Transport, and certainly not the pallet of liquids waved through on its way to Tim Hortons...no exceptions at all. Of course I'm not going to leave one minute earlier to accommodate that either.

[sstaurus]

...not CATSA personnel...

Fair is fair! Nothing would please me more than to be able to randomly stop these morons in the hallway and ask them to take their shoes off and half their clothes while I rifle through their lunch bag. Muahaha...

[Sleeve of Wizard]

They took away the green/red button at YYZ (post US customs) in the last couple of weeks. I've been sent through search-free every time since. Are they still not-so-randomly searching people there?

I've been searched the last 7 out of 8 times..

WTF? Without pushing the button?

[Buzz Lightyear]

The all crew I was with once refused to press the button because a CATSA employee just went through without pressing it, just in front of us. It's a random check for EVERYONE.

They had 3 choices:

- Call back the CATSA employee that was just through
- Call the manager and explain the situation
- Let us go....

They picked the last option!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who hates having his lunch bag and dirty laundry put upside down...

I've no problem with the X-rays though, even if the rules are not the same everywhere you go (some places don't even ask for your computer, some others do every time...).

[razorblade]

They took away the green/red button at YYZ (post US customs) in the last couple of weeks. I've been sent through search-free every time since. Are they still not-so-randomly searching people there?

I've been searched the last 7 out of 8 times..

WTF? Without pushing the button?

I'll agree with Buzz, absolutely no issues with putting my bag through X-ray machine. It's the invasive search that I'm against..

@Sleeve - Yup, I just happen to be "randomly" selected. Doesn't help that I'm brown haha

[teacher]

I find one of the biggest insults to crew members is seeing people with NO VESTED INTEREST in the safety of the flight like customs agents and police officers walk through bypass unscreened. Understandably they are armed (police officers are) but how do we know they are not hiding other things like drugs, knives or explosives on themselves and handing it off to someone on the secure side? The biggest burn is customs agents though. Really? A high school diploma and 5 months of training and you can be a customs agent and have more trust placed in you than the pilot of the aircraft, pathetic because hey, there's never been a corrupt border guard.

[navajo_jay]

So to be fair we ,the pilots, should search the CATSA people. Why can they search their own people. It does'nt make it safer letting them searching their own staff knowing that they are all buddies.

[ahramin]

People, you are forgetting that CATSA's raisons d'etre do not include fairness, or aviation security for that matter. CATSA's goals are growing as large as possible and ensuring the appearance of aviation security. As long as the traveling public feels safe, it's job well done at head office.

[Krimson]

The biggest burn is customs agents though. Really? A high school diploma and 5 months of training and you can be a customs agent and have more trust placed in you than the pilot of the aircraft, pathetic because hey, there's never been a corrupt border guard.

This.

[Donald]

Don't forget that if upset a CATSA person enough, they can and will take away your RAIC, effectively suspending/ending your career.

[North Shore]

^ Is that true, or urban legend, though? If you were to lose (or have suspended) your RAIC through some sort of disagreement with CATSA, there must be some sort of judicial review prior to you losing your job/career...