American Airlines Information Gathering

matt-fu writes "Cory Doctorow posted a story on boingboing.net this morning describing a recent hassle while flying American Airlines. It seems that since he was traveling from the UK to the US with a Canadian passport, he was actually asked to give out the names and addresses of everyone he would be staying with in the US! He has written an open letter to AA in response. Has anyone else had something like this happen to them?"

Comments

It's a precaution

[Kohath]

They need to followup with the families to make sure none of them get mad cow disease.

happened to me

[drivinghighway61]

Yeah, something like this happened to me last time I was flying to Nigeria. They made me stay in the country, and I never did get that money I was supposed to get from Prince Nanawobob Jones...

Re:Boohoo

[Kenja]

"Trying being a diabetic with an insulin pump. The security people aren't big fans of people with tubes coming out of them strapped to little computers."

Wait a second, if the letter 'n' where the letter 'm' and you moved all the other letters around 'insulin' becomes 'i muslium'.

YOUR ONE OF THEM AREN'T YOU!

Passport

[agent]

I signed my parents up with passport, because I was afraid they would not be able to fly without one. Turns out I was wrong.

I guess Micro$oft does not run all of the world.
And if my parents and the banks like M$ maybe it is only 1% evil.

System V rules the world!
Peace.

Re:Boohoo

[Anonymous Coward]

muslium? Is this some sort of new metal? Is it radioactive?

Re:My American Airlines experience

[techno-vampire]

The first and only time I ever knowingly met an FBI agent is when I had to deliver something to their local office. It took them 45 minutes to investigate their office and fine out who was responsible for the material.

For the informed traveller

[Safety Cap]

When travelling to a Police State, such as the US:

1. Always have the name, address and telephone number of someone you "are staying with" on hand. Note that in the states, a phone number that contains "xxx-555-yyyy" is bogus (used only in the movies).
2. When asked how you know the person, use something vague and unverifiable, such as "We met on holiday in Canada," "we went to school together," etc.
3. When they ask you for your driver's license number or other identifying number from a card that you don't have a reason to carry, simply state "I don't remember." DO NOT SMILE WHEN YOU SAY THAT!
4. Never crack jokes. Police State Officials who have a sense of humour are usually sent to "reeducation centre" to have it removed.
5. Playing dumb always works.

Re:Boohoo

[jd]

Yes. Its decay product is Mausolium. This is an isotope of the more common Mausoleum, but because it only naturally occurs as a decay product, it is only found in unstable regions.