I've noticed a few comments on this board about VS wasting their money on Securicor or why can't the check in agents do their job? To me it seems a little bit arrogant and most certainly unfair. I suspect most people on this board have UK/US passports which are easier to deal with than most other countries, but they only make up 55% of passports Securicor see.
Do you even realise what Securicor do?
They're trained to spot forgeries, pick up irregularities in visas, make sure you have the correct documentation to enter a country, spotting how and when you paid for your ticket, making sure you're not acting suspiciously to name but a few things.
Just because they seem to take no interest in you, doesn't mean they aren't doing a vital job. If they think you are suspicious they wont stop you, they'll let you check in so you think you're high and dry.
Just by touching the passport they'll know if it's real or not. Unless its a really bad forgery, how would you expect the check in agent to know? Check in agents have enough to remember and deal with without spending an extra five minutes with each passenger examining each passport and checking whether they have the right visa. So many would slip through the net and as an airline we'd get fined.
A few months ago we had a huge spate of forged passports as well as visas being transferred from one passport to the other, all caught by Securicor which ended in a lot of arrests being made.
We see many passports from Nigeria/Iran/Iraq/Israel/Pakistan/India/Afganistan/Mexico/Columbia/Cuba to name but a few all with different marks, layouts, meanings, things to look out for that the check in agents can't be expected to rememmber. By no means are all passports machine readable - most pax have 4 or 5 old passports stapled together all hand written with cut out pictures, scribble in them which are all perfectly legal but to the untrained eye look like they were whipped up at playschool.
Did you know if you have a UK passport you have to have one clear page in it free of any mark/stamp to enter South Africa? It's only happened twice in my memory but they were there to stop it.
They are trained to stop people travelling who shouldn't be travelling. So the next time you find it trivial that they're asking you security questions or only glancing at your passport, don't think they've finished with you, they could have marked you down as someone to investigate further and like i said earlier, they know withing seconds if your passport is forged.
This is by no means a rant - i don't get angry about anything. I just laughed out loud at the arrogance of some people on here. Securicor do a vital job. Maybe it's jealousy that they don't spend enough time with you, and you like the attention. Get a fake passport and you'll see them seeming to take a little more interest.
Just be grateful that they're an extra, more in depth line of defence for making your flight safer.
Do you even realise what Securicor do?
They're trained to spot forgeries, pick up irregularities in visas, make sure you have the correct documentation to enter a country, spotting how and when you paid for your ticket, making sure you're not acting suspiciously to name but a few things.
Just because they seem to take no interest in you, doesn't mean they aren't doing a vital job. If they think you are suspicious they wont stop you, they'll let you check in so you think you're high and dry.
Just by touching the passport they'll know if it's real or not. Unless its a really bad forgery, how would you expect the check in agent to know? Check in agents have enough to remember and deal with without spending an extra five minutes with each passenger examining each passport and checking whether they have the right visa. So many would slip through the net and as an airline we'd get fined.
A few months ago we had a huge spate of forged passports as well as visas being transferred from one passport to the other, all caught by Securicor which ended in a lot of arrests being made.
We see many passports from Nigeria/Iran/Iraq/Israel/Pakistan/India/Afganistan/Mexico/Columbia/Cuba to name but a few all with different marks, layouts, meanings, things to look out for that the check in agents can't be expected to rememmber. By no means are all passports machine readable - most pax have 4 or 5 old passports stapled together all hand written with cut out pictures, scribble in them which are all perfectly legal but to the untrained eye look like they were whipped up at playschool.
Did you know if you have a UK passport you have to have one clear page in it free of any mark/stamp to enter South Africa? It's only happened twice in my memory but they were there to stop it.
They are trained to stop people travelling who shouldn't be travelling. So the next time you find it trivial that they're asking you security questions or only glancing at your passport, don't think they've finished with you, they could have marked you down as someone to investigate further and like i said earlier, they know withing seconds if your passport is forged.
This is by no means a rant - i don't get angry about anything. I just laughed out loud at the arrogance of some people on here. Securicor do a vital job. Maybe it's jealousy that they don't spend enough time with you, and you like the attention. Get a fake passport and you'll see them seeming to take a little more interest.
Just be grateful that they're an extra, more in depth line of defence for making your flight safer.
