Student of Arabic - Accused of Terrorism

The thing is, you referred to yourself in the 3rd person masculine. What you said translates to "He cannot understand why you are complaining!" so I am wondering who "he" is :P The word "I" was not even translated. It's still there in fact.

Ha, that's funny. I translated it back into English before posting and it seemed to have come across intact. Maybe Google remembered what I had tried to translate and fed it back to me.

Asking a complete stranger what they have in their bag is not exercising caution, it's just plain rude, not to mention stupid. If it really was 'suspicious', i.e. a bomb, they are more likely to blow you up on the spot, rather than wait a bit longer.

OP here. I didn't think the question about my bag was rude. It clearly was not a considred question - it slipped out in a panic moment. I don't bear the other passenger any grudge. I was just amazed by how jumpy she was. Various south asian colleagues I spoke to say they get this all the time - eg they step on a tube train with a briefcase and other passengers visibly edge out of the way. Anyone so scared of Indians must find it difficult to get around London at all, given the number of South Asian origin living here and using public transport.

I'm flying tomorrow (European flight) with the same Arabic book (still not got the hang of it yet). Any good stories, I'll post them here.

Apparently my husband, daughter and I have a warning on our passports when they're scanned. My husband took Arabic classes and we've been to Morocco several times and Egypt. On the way back from Egypt, my daughter was wearing a dress she bought there. She was patted down a few times. But the airlines don't do profiling.

Please let me know how things go in Syria. My husband is thinking of going there later in the year.

Apparently my husband, daughter and I have a warning on our passports when they're scanned.

How did you know? I guess other passagers did not get patted, like your daughter?

#23, I think she was panicking for no reasons. I supposed if you lost someone/knew someone who were hurt/killed in a terrorist attack, that would be a fair point. If not, like you said, she was just plain paranoid, and imho, racist.

Apparently, when my husband and daughter came back from Egypt they saw some kind of warning on the screen when their passports were scanned - since I've been to Morroco as much as my husband and Egypt as much as my daughter I am presuming my passport has the same warning. From what my husband said, my daughter was the only patted, at least when they were there.

Wow, if they do that to fellow Americans, imagine the treatment a person from a Muslim country who has been to Arab etc would get at the airport. Anyway, I guess they are just doing their job.

sashac, I'm not saying this to challenge you, but it would suprise me if their computers faced out for travelers to see. I'd imagine that keeping the screen out of sight would be a pretty high priority. I came back into the country on Thursday and I wouldn't have been able to see what was on his screen.

Just a comment.

Also, a message on the screen might have been there to signal to the official that the passports have been selected for a random check, or that the current trip fit some profile that they were looking for. (Compare with credit cards: a credit-card company may call you when it registers a transaction that is outside your normal usage pattern, or that otherwise fits some formula of suspicion. That doesn't mean that the credit card itself is marked with a warning, just that the current situation must be checked.)