DHS Will Now Vet UK Air Passengers To Mexico, Canada, Cuba

First time accepted submitter illtud writes "From April, UK passengers flying to Mexico, Eastern Canada or Cuba will have to submit their details at least 72 hours before boarding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for pre-flight vetting (as all passengers to the U.S. itself have had to do for a while). If they find against you, you're not getting on the plane, even though you're not going to the U.S. The Independent (UK quality newspaper) has the story."

Comments

AMERICA!

[Anonymous Coward]

FUCK YEAH!

Re:Haha, good one.

[s0litaire]

Guess you never seen the date of the article in question

was posted on "March 26th"

The US will enforce this

[dskoll]

... and here's how. "Oh, you won't comply? Guess you don't want your airline to have landing rights in the US, then."

The US, unfortunately, can get away with extortion. I live in Canada and have family in the United States, but this is seriously offputting. I think it's time to boycott travel to the US until they back away from this kind of insanity.

Huh?

[fullback]

I'm a mature, naturally calm person never prone to profane outbursts, but the U.S. needs to fuck off.

Re:Huh?

[Guy Harris]

If we were prone to fucking off, you'd be speaking German or Russian right now.

If we were prone to fucking off, Iran might have a reasonable secular democracy now. Just because certain US actions might have achieved good goals, that does not mean that all US actions are quite so beneficial. And, in this particular case (just as in the cases of, say, the coups against Arbenz in Guatemala, Mossadegh in Iran, and Allende in Chile), in this particular case, the world (and, for this case, the US) would be better off if we truly did fuck off.

Re:Emigration vs Immigration control

[GoodNewsJimDotCom]

This is an interesting step; in general countries are a lot more strict on entering their territory than leaving it.

Countries yes, but states no. For New Jersey, it is free to enter across the bridge. But you need to pay to leave.

Already happening

[RabidMonkey]

This has been going on in Canada for years now. Even if you aren't landing IN the States, so long as you fly OVER you are subject to screening. My father spoke to someone at the airport one day who was not cleared by DBS, but still managed to get on his flight to the Carribean. His plane had mechanical problems and was forced to land in Florida. When he got off the plane he was met by law enforcement, who read him the riot act and took him directly to jail. He waited there overnight, then was put ona plane home.

Living in southern Ontario, it is pretty much impossible not to fly over the states, even for domestic flights. That means we are all screwed by US rules, living in another country. Our freedom is limited by their assinine rules.

Re:Already happening

[thesupraman]

Fantastic idea Mr Moron.

Now, do you realise how many other countries airspace YOUR carriers fly over? How many of their laws are not
forced upon your carriers? Would you like them enforced?

There are international agreements and standards for these things, DHS just doesnt believe they have to comply
with anyones agreements (including it seems their own countries in many cases..)

And even more to the point, assuming the 'perceived risk' is someone taking control of the aircraft to crash it, how
would this safer if they took control outside US airspace, then flew in? aircraft can change course you know..

Its all just the most disgusting form of empire building and powerplays by DHS, as they have proved again and
again, I hope you are enjoying losing your freedoms slice at a time.

There are so many other actually useful things that could be focused on, but instead we just have endless security
theatre, empire building, and red tape to punish those who do follow the rules. IT seems so far more crime has been
created by DHS (all the stolen luggage, privacy violations, personal violations, etc) than stopped.

Re:Already happening

[shutdown -p now]

The news here is that this now applies to flights that do not go through US airspace. From TFA:

"Even if the flight plan steers well clear of US territory, travellers whom the Americans regard as suspicious will be denied boarding."

In particular, flights from UK to Halifax don't touch US airspace (check the map).

Re:Flying over US airspace.

[Anonymous Coward]

UK -> Canada never comes near US airspace.

Re:Haha, good one.

[tmosley]

This shit right here is why I FUCKING HATE April Fools Day.

If I was an evil dictator, I would implement all of my worst schemes on April first and no-one would bat a fucking eye.

Re:Flying over US airspace.

[BasilBrush]

How inconvenient is it going to be if every other country in the world insists on vetting all US carrier passengers flying over THEIR airspace? As a US citizen you might have to have your flight plans checked by several different countries for a single flight. And some of those countries not particularly nice countries at that.

Enjoy your flight!

Re:Emigration vs Immigration control

[interval1066]

I think most people are more than willing to pay to leave New Jersey.

Re:Emigration vs Immigration control

[MachDelta]

Odd thought - wouldn't this mean that a Canadian citizen (for example) could, technically, become trapped in the UK at the behest of the US?

Re:Emigration vs Immigration control

[Idarubicin]

Direct flights that do not enter US Airspace would not be affected.

No, you're quite mistaken. While the U.S. previously only demanded passenger information for flights entering U.S. airspace, this new policy now covers flights that never overfly U.S. territory. The article notes that direct flights from the UK to the Canadian cities of Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto are affected, and the U.S. authorities intend to include western Canadian destinations in the near future.

Re:Emigration vs Immigration control

[Phrogman]

I sincerely hope this gets challenged that way. I am getting thoroughly sick of the American Empire and its Imperialist ways.
Of course, Harper is charge still and the Conservatives believe in sucking up to the US, so even if it was determined this was illegal under Canadian law, nothing would ever be done.