Crossing the border to the US

Interesting article on the BBC about crossing the US-Canadian border
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39449515
With anecdotal evidence that the US border is tougher to get through in the Trump era, the actual evidence (from the Obama era) is rather different. From 2014 to 2016 the US denied entry to about 28,000 Canadians every year yet over the same time frame the Canadians now deny entry to more Americans, it has jumped from 7,500 in 2014 to 30,000 in 2016, four times as many. I suspect it is due to the sharing of criminal records, the Canadians deny entry for a drunk driving conviction while the Americans do not seem too bothered by that.

When I arrived in Chicago airport a couple of days ago to transit, I found the security processing simpler. I didn't have to take off my belt, or remove the coins from my pocket, didn't even have to take off my shoes (at first), but when the machine beeped, so my shoes came off, and I still went through in much less time than usual. I don't remember the officer asking any questions at all, except where I was going.

Likewise in my home airport the agents are now assisted by an automated system which stores the answers to your questions (it knew already which flight I arrived on), took a picture, and again the agent didn't need to ask any questions (although the automated system wasn't as easy to use, or as fast).

If you are randomly given TSA Pre-check, as I often am, you don't have to take off the shoes or belts in the USA (I never have a belt, but HATE taking off my shoes in public, yech). Without this, it is still shoes off, etc.

My last trip home with the automated system, you didn't even see an agent in Canada, just used the machine and passed the paper over to someone collecting them as you left. Seemed strange, but some were randomly selected to go to the agent.

The act of granting TSA Pre-check to random travelers to seems to me to violate the whole purpose of TSA security requiring passengers to submit extensive background information before they can use the pre-check line. It is government gone mad. 1) increase security by scanning everything. 2) create long lines and delays 3) create pre-check procedures and dedicated lines to reduce the delays. 4) ignore all security measures and randomly allow travelers to board planes without scanning and without submitting the required pre-check background information. 5) Too often, government just creates a big hassle, wastes $Trillion, and fixes nothing. Come on, just walk right through with your random pre-check pass.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.