American Airlines passengers from international flight, leave airport without going through Customs

Passengers from American Airlines flight 1223, from Cancun Mexico arrived at JFK airport in New York City, and were allowed to leave the airport without being screened by Customs. This is the second American Airlines flight allowed passengers to leave the airport without screening since November.

A passenger that was in Mexico to attend three concerts said that he approached a TSA agent, and told them what happened, and was told "You're ok. Go ahead". He saw other passengers outside already leaving when he exited the terminal. Hours later, American sent out an email asking passengers to return to the airport to go through Customs screening.

If this doesn't make you feel safe, I don't know what will.

Passengers arriving at Kennedy Airport on an international flight were allowed to exit the busy hub without going through Customs — for at least the second time in recent months, the Daily News has learned.

Bumbling airline and security officials let travelers on American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico, out of the airport on Monday morning without having their passports or bags checked, sources told The News.

The security lapse mirrored a similar incident involving another American Airlines flight in November.

A 34-year-old man who had been in Cancun to attend three Phish concerts told The News he was able to glide from the plane to the baggage claim area without having to endure the usual maze of Customs and Border Protection security checks.

“It’s absolutely absurd,” the business adviser said. “To think that anyone could be walking off of that plane and just get right into the city. It could be terrorists, El Chapo’s henchmen, anyone.”

www.theaviationnews.net...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Such incompetence by people in a position like this should be punished.
At least a hefty fine should be issued.
To let this happen twice in three months is unacceptable. They need to be taught that this type of thing will be punished harshly, to try and ensure it does not happen again.

a reply to: Zaphod58
How many times has this happened so far? How in the world did they not check people?

I thought international flights always had their own terminal that forced the passengers to go through screening. I believe that is the way it is in Atlanta anyways. Sounds like a big hole in their security....wonder how many have exploited that one. Who needs to risk trying to illegally cross a border when you can be flown in to one of the largest US cities and walk right through?

a reply to: Skid Mark

At least twice in three months. Both with American Airlines, and both at JFK.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

At many airports I've been through, they just set up barriers that funnel the travelers down to the Customs area, and then use the gate for domestic travel when the international flights are done for the day.

a reply to: Vasa Croe

They do but if a door is left open you can exit into the main terminals.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Somebody should be fired then. Could criminal charges be pressed for this? Seems like at least they could be charged for negligence. Anywho, I wonder if it was just a case of stupidity or if it might have been planned; not by the airline but by whoever didn't do their job.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
I thought international flights always had their own terminal that forced the passengers to go through screening. I believe that is the way it is in Atlanta anyways. Sounds like a big hole in their security....wonder how many have exploited that one. Who needs to risk trying to illegally cross a border when you can be flown in to one of the largest US cities and walk right through?

They indeed do. The whole purpose of the separate terminal area where ALL international flights depart their passengers is to go through customs. It makes no sense.

Something else is going on here. Someone is wanting something to get through. Why all the agents would go along with this is a mystery. There are hundreds of people departing the planes, going through customs. In fact, in 2013 this article states 3.2 million a year.

John F. Kennedy Airport has No. 1 longest wait for customs in U.S.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS /

Wednesday, July 10, 2013, 10:00 AM

International passengers wait, on average, 36 minutes to get through terminal 4, a watchdog group finds. By comparison, it takes 31 minutes at LAX, 23 minutes at Chicago's O'Hare and 16 minutes in Atlanta

***snip***

More than 3.2 million arriving travelers have gone through customs at JFK this year, more than any airport in the country.

www.nydailynews.com...

a reply to: Skid Mark

It most likely would have been the gate agents since they coordinate the boarding and disembarking of passengers and will set the access doors accordingly.

So they pleaded for passengers to return HOURS after the plane landed. Great.

"Oh, sure....Let me dump all my weapons before I come back."

(Shaking head)

a reply to: Skid Mark

"Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action." -from Goldfinger

Once at an airport is an accident, twice at the same airport, same airline, a couple months later, I'm getting twitchy.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe
I thought international flights always had their own terminal that forced the passengers to go through screening. I believe that is the way it is in Atlanta anyways. Sounds like a big hole in their security....wonder how many have exploited that one. Who needs to risk trying to illegally cross a border when you can be flown in to one of the largest US cities and walk right through?

Even in an international terminal, pilots still have a security code airlock that lets them bypass customs screening. Combine that with a couple of dead-head pilots ahead of you and a bunch of passengers desperate to get off the plane to make connections, and you can find yourself being forced to tailgate the people ahead of you.

Yeah the TSA has a pretty bad track record even when they are looking for things.

What was it like 95% of all banned stuff ended up going through screening?

www.latimes.com...

Yeah that's it, 95% failure rate. I know meteorologists with better records..

~Tenth

a reply to: StoutBroux

It makes no sense.

Something else is going on here. Someone is wanting something to get through. Why all the agents would go along with this is a mystery

Oh dear, my thoughts exactly. It does not bode well for the citizens of USA. Sleepers/False flag/Provocateurs come to mind

a reply to: Zaphod58

How many people on the flight versus those allowed to skate passed Customs?

a reply to: NewzNose

They were all allowed to skate past. None of them went through screening at any point. Depending on which version of the 737-800 they were flying, there are either 150 or 160 seats on board.

In an interesting twist, the previous incident was American flight 1671, also from Cancun, with 150 passengers on board. All but 6 on that flight returned to go through Customs.

a reply to: Zaphod58

In my experience the TSA are a bunch of half baked idjuts. For example, my last flight, they took my travel sized nail trimmers but let me board the jet with two full sets of lock picks. Lock picks are way sharper than the trimmers ohh and I would tend to imagine if I had wanted to I could have made a fair bit of havoc with em.

So nothing they do or rather don't do is much of a surprise.

a reply to: sycomix

This was as much, or more on the airlines and DHS itself than the TSA. The airline should have had the gate set up to only allow passengers to go to Customs. The first time the passengers just followed a gate agent out of the area, and no one said anything.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Aye will give ya that, but they said that a TSA agent was approached and that they (the TSA) waved them on.