Traveling to Istanbul

If people are afraid to travel (for whatever reason,) they shouldn’t - no big deal.  

Given the past history of how many permanent residents and US Citizens having radicalized, having gone to fight with/train with ISIS, and returning back to the US, I personally don’t mind the extra scrutiny at the airports even though it does cause some inconvenience.

Here is my personal experience on February 1 returning to the US.  It was annoying but unavoidable.

• I am a US citizen and I happen to be out of the country from mid January.  My return flight was on Jan 31 but due to flight cancellation, delayed to Feb 1 - just days after the travel ban was announced (that I wasn’t even aware of.)
• I had been to Egypt and Turkey on this trip (neither are on the banned countries’ list, but predominantly Muslim and in the same dangerous neighborhood), and was flying back directly from Istanbul (IST) to SFO.
• I travel a lot, and always dread the last flight back to the US because of additional scrutiny hassles - regardless of which country I am returning from.  So this was nothing new - long lines, more wait, lots of questions, checking/double checking, manually checking your handbags, and so on.
• At Istanbul airport, as soon as you enter the terminal building, the first thing is security check - all your bags and persons - including a pat down.
• After you get your boarding pass, it is passport control and ANOTHER bags, handbags and personal checking. Then you are in the main terminal and proceed to your gate.
• On this particular day, the entire planeload (about 400 passengers) were crammed in one small corner of the airport, just outside the gate for our flight.  Most were from the region returning back to the US.
• At the gate, twenty or so security personnel - all locals, no Americans that I noticed - were waiting to get started. We were told that the gate would open two hours before the flight.  So I was there on time - the first one, just when they started letting people in.
• They scanned my passport, and asked where I was coming from and asked me to name all countries I had been to. Then the standard questions about “did you pack your own bags, did anyone give you anything, was it out of your sight since then, etc.”
• Then my passport was taken to the supervisor, who checked something and OKed it.
• Less than five steps later, a row of next security personnel with tall counters (so we could not peek at their terminals), who asked practically the same questions, then stamped the passport/boarding pass.
• Two steps later, yet another security person checked the just stamped boarding pass, and directed me to have a seat and wait for the flight to board.
• Most passengers (80% or so) were not so lucky. They had to wait in yet another line to hand check of their carryons. It included babies in strollers too.
• My understanding is that USCIS provides instructions to follow that local authorities (using local personnel) carry out. - Is it a hassle? Sure.
  - Would you call it detention? Pretty close, though not of the worst kind.
  - Is it worth it? I wouldn’t want any trouble on my flight - that’s for sure.
• Almost the same scenario repeated at SFO at Immigration.  Paper customs forms are still used but are being phased out with electronic terminals where you scan passports for everyone in your group, answer the same questions and take the receipt to a (human) Immigration officer who may ask the same questions all over again, AND decide whether your bags should be (X-ray) scanned by customs.
• I call this normal operating procedure.  I remember, once armed security officers were in the jetway (“not quite in the airport, not quite in the airplane,”) and checking our passports.
• Next time, I am getting Global Entry (TSA Precheck included) - hope that makes it a bit more painless.

P.S.  The more I travel, the more I'm getting immune to security warnings, alerts and concerns.  Before travel, I register myself at STEP letting the U.S. State Department know the destinations and dates of my travel in case of an emergency.  Almost immediately, I start getting their alerts.  Most are trivial such as the embassy in Istanbul will be closed tomorrow due to inclement weather, or something.  Some are general warnings such as for 9/11, please be aware of your surroundings and any signs of unrest/attacks.  Or that there is a massive earthquake in Ecuador.  It is good to be aware, but in most cases, you plan your trips way ahead of time, and at the last moment, there is nothing much you can do but just go.  Thankfully, nothing has happened so far - hope it remains that way.