[DennisAJC]

My wife, 2 kids and I were on our way to a trip overseas. We've always been prepared and accepted airline service good or bad.

Our biggest shocker was going through customs.

As we were in line, we all took off our jackets and proceeded to place them in the x-ray baskets. My wife and kids were in front of me. I heard the Punjabi or East Indian customs agent blurt out, "Boob alert" . I didn't hone in and was too busy helping the kids put their things on the conveyor. Then I hear him say, "Please remove your sweater.". I looked up and realized they were talking to my wife who was wearing a snug sweater. My wife said, "Why? All I have is a t-shirt underneath." By this time, 2 other Punjabi.East Indian men came over. He snapped, "We want to make sure you have nothing underneath there."

I really didn't get what was going on until I saw one of them with a grin. Then in a split second I got outraged and snapped, "Boob alert? Are you serious? Are you guys ****ing serious?

The same one replied, "We can have her taken to the back room for a strip search if you'd like."

I told him that I want to speak with his supervisor. By this time, a few more agents and travellers in line were paying attention.

He comes around and takes me aside. With a grin he tells me I can see the supervisor but we'll have to wait in the office where he guarantees me that we would surely miss our flight.

Wifey knew things were getting close to out of hand so she took off her sweater and walked through the detector corridor where a female agent was shaking her head and apologizing to my wife saying it was not necessary.

The smiling Punjabi/East Indian agent let me continue on through but parted with a, "We'll always win in the end.". I reminded him that he is powerless outside of this airport but I stopped short of continuing because I didn't want to blow our holidays. I walked by the same female customs agent by the walk though and she apologized also and waved me through.

The stupid thing about all this was when we got on the plane, I noticed that my Leatherman knife was still attached to my belt which I forget all the time and under normal circumstances, would have been taken away from me. (This has happened once already. I'm in the packaging industry and by habit, always carry it.) But in the commotion, I realized that I had walked through without being stopped.


By the reaction of the female customs agent, she probably witnessed this more than one occasion by this perverted gang of thugs who felt powerful with their authority.


Terrible how experience is being replaced by corupption and cheap wages.

[jimworcs]

You need to quickly file a complaint while your memory is fresh. Specifically request that they keep any video tapes of the area whilst your complaint is investigated. This may have happened before and these guys are abused what little power they have. You could do everyone a favour by getting them sacked.

[The_Judge]

While your experience was degrading and the employees you mentioned should be dealt with appropriately, I think this complaint belongs elsewhere. Although it happened at the airport, they are not airline employees. Airline guys/gals do enough stupid stuff on their own that they don't need another group of employees lumped in with them to make them look worse than they already are. This is, of course, is IMHO.

Maybe the the mod could make a new section for airport complaints, as well. I don't know if the intent is only for airline complaints, as the name of the website states, or if they're looking for general travel complaints. The more exposure though, the better, I would think.

[yvrgirl]

Hi Dennis AJC,

You need to realize that customs is different from airport security. It seems that your issue is with the airport security or CATSA. I have also had issues with the airport security. They seem to think they are gods when they operate the x-ray. I even had one male xray operator ask if he could frisk me. I told him no he can't and he will be violating my rights if he did that. He responded by saying " That's why I asked. " If it hadn't been for me trying to make my flight. I would have raised a stink right there.

I have never had any issues with Canada Customs though. they have always been polite and friendly.

Originally Posted by DennisAJC

My wife, 2 kids and I were on our way to a trip overseas. We've always been prepared and accepted airline service good or bad.

Our biggest shocker was going through customs.

As we were in line, we all took off our jackets and proceeded to place them in the x-ray baskets. My wife and kids were in front of me. I heard the Punjabi or East Indian customs agent blurt out, "Boob alert" . I didn't hone in and was too busy helping the kids put their things on the conveyor. Then I hear him say, "Please remove your sweater.". I looked up and realized they were talking to my wife who was wearing a snug sweater. My wife said, "Why? All I have is a t-shirt underneath." By this time, 2 other Punjabi.East Indian men came over. He snapped, "We want to make sure you have nothing underneath there."

I really didn't get what was going on until I saw one of them with a grin. Then in a split second I got outraged and snapped, "Boob alert? Are you serious? Are you guys ****ing serious?

The same one replied, "We can have her taken to the back room for a strip search if you'd like."

I told him that I want to speak with his supervisor. By this time, a few more agents and travellers in line were paying attention.

He comes around and takes me aside. With a grin he tells me I can see the supervisor but we'll have to wait in the office where he guarantees me that we would surely miss our flight.

Wifey knew things were getting close to out of hand so she took off her sweater and walked through the detector corridor where a female agent was shaking her head and apologizing to my wife saying it was not necessary.

The smiling Punjabi/East Indian agent let me continue on through but parted with a, "We'll always win in the end.". I reminded him that he is powerless outside of this airport but I stopped short of continuing because I didn't want to blow our holidays. I walked by the same female customs agent by the walk though and she apologized also and waved me through.

The stupid thing about all this was when we got on the plane, I noticed that my Leatherman knife was still attached to my belt which I forget all the time and under normal circumstances, would have been taken away from me. (This has happened once already. I'm in the packaging industry and by habit, always carry it.) But in the commotion, I realized that I had walked through without being stopped.


By the reaction of the female customs agent, she probably witnessed this more than one occasion by this perverted gang of thugs who felt powerful with their authority.


Terrible how experience is being replaced by corupption and cheap wages.

[The_Judge]

This thread is almost 2 years old, yvrgirl. Don't think the OP much cares anymore.