Security adds travel time for US Air passengers
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) is introducing new security measures at Owen Roberts International Airport today. From now on passengers travelling to the United States are asked to arrive at the airport three hours before their flights. The CIAA said the enhanced security procedures are in response to the requirements announced by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has implemented new measures for all air carriers with international flights to the US. The latest security procedures supersedethe emergency measures put in place immediately following the attempted terrorist attack on 25 December 2009.
CIAA, confirmed that the new measures started on Thursday, 8 April, and will remain in effect until further notice.
“The measures will apply to USA bound passengers only and will not affect passengers on flights to the Sister Islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman or to Cuba, Montego Bay and Kingston, Honduras or the United Kingdom,” a spokesperson for the CIAA stated. “The additional security checks will include random screening throughout the check-in and boarding process utilising explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology for baggage, canine teams, or pat downs, among other standard security measures.”
These protocols are said to be tailored to reflect the most current information available to the US government. They are part of a dynamic, threat-based aviation security system covering all passengers travelling by air to the US while focusing security measures in a more effective and efficient manner to ensure the safety and security of the travelling public.
The CIAA said it is encouraging passengers to arrive at Owen Roberts International Airport a minimum of three hours prior to their scheduled departure time in order to accommodate these additional measures and to avoid delays.
Category: Local News
Another bunch of crap that will make absolutely no difference in making us more secure. Target those who are the real risk and use common sense when screening individuals. Random searches will accomplish nothing.
What people fail to realize, what is taking place at the Airport is good ole USA requirements…if you want to go there then you have to put up with all the requirements. The US call the shots here not CIAA or any airline.
Thank god we are a soft target, for if I had to trust those screeners to find anything heaven help us!!!! Half of the screeners don’t even use the correct protocol of searches…
Who wants to sit around in the airport for 3 hours? ;they don’t even have a decent restaurant.
They don’t have a decent anything – the airport is a disgrace. The biggest store was trying to sell a 2009 "Pirate" calendar last week.
If this continues Its going be quicker to travel by boat to get to Miami.
The US is not only requiring the usual increased security checks but it is also requiring more information from travelers to cross reference against information in government data bases. US Citizens who travel to and from Cayman regularly better be on top of all of their financial filings as they’re going to be targeted as well. Obama wants to make sure that all taxes are being paid to the US Government.
OH S$%T!! Sorry, niece, I won’t make your wedding next month.
The new checks here are much more stringent than those that are applied on recent trips internally around the US or on flights into the US from Europe I have been on.
There was a suspicious six year old while waiting in Miami. Acting kind of restless and fidgity they spied her right away! And made her take of her Minnie Mouse sneakers.
They didn’t find anything. And we all breathed a huge sigh of relief.
So you have to be there three hours before for a one hour flight? Crazy!
Would be terrific if they put this much effort into folks coming TO the island – perhaps could cut down on the guns being brought in, therefore start the end of the gang violence?
What is the point of arriving at the airport three hours before departure when the extra screening takes place on boarding. It is a no brainer that arriving there earlier does help in anyway. Gold plated fooloishness on the part of the CIAA
The screening will take place at check-in AND boarding, but 3 hours is rediculous anyway!
If you mean those dumb questions that has always been in place, but I can tell you from first hand experience the time consuming part is done on boarding.
Tough way to encourage tourism when the last thing you remeber after vacation is the hell of airport security. Must be a better way to increase security and not make the wait ridiculous. Have had better experiences throughout the globe.
That’s all very well, but it would be helpful if they had the people trained properly when using the equipment.
We went through there and it took the guy 20 minutes to swab my boyfriends bag and still he could not get a proper reading – why? the guy was not wearing gloves. So after 20 minutes of getting an error reading, he just let my boyfriend go.
We then had to wait in line for another 20 minutes whilst trying to board the plane, because they were searching every single passenger going onto the plane – not random selection – every single passenger. There were pat downs and bag searches.
I have no problem with security going onto a plane, but you go through the metal detector and securitythen enter the departure lounge (not exactly huge in Cayman) and then you have to more or less go through it all again getting onto the plane.
They might as well do away with security going into the departure lounge and just do the checks as you are boarding the plane.
crazy
They need to get a grip on reality and do some profiling of suspected terrorists. Stopping a couple of accountants on a flight to Miami on business is not going to help the fight against terrorism, but is going to disrupt business. But when the security staff let their mates through unchecked this is a security risk.
Better checks and more targetted checks are needed, not just more generic screening.
Wow,
So I guess what we are to assume from your post is that accountants and the likes never have strong social, political or religious views, and would NEVER be associated with any group promoting or involved with terrorism, hence they need not be screened, only the lower classes.
I think the majority of people reading my post understood exactly what I was saying, hence the thumbs up. Only those with really boring lives and that have never had a girlfriend would have the time to make silly pedantic comments like yours.
The accountants were an example so show that with a bit of common sense and profiling they could limit the checks on say, a honeymooning couple to the usual security screen and prehaps only extend the extra special attention to persons that fit the high risk profile which includes persons from high risk countries (e.g. the middle east, africa etc), or other people acting erraticly, sweating and nervous, travelling alone, without baggage etc.
Get a grip you sad, deluded individual.