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Airports can feel like foreign countries with their own sets of rules, regulations, and, of course, secrets. Only the people working there know how things go down, but that’s all about to change! Get ready for the answers to some of the questions you've always wanted to ask but never dared. Here are 8 secrets airport staff don't want you to know.
Secrets Airport Staff
8. They’re specially trained to analyze “off” behavior
Most airports have specific experts called profilers. Those people practice what’s called SPOT, or the Screening Passengers by Observation Technique. They carefully analyze facial expressions, gestures, and behavior to detect suspicious people. Their job is to notify the non-verbal signs of anxiety, such as people licking their lips, itching, or looking around a lot.
If a profiler notices a person acting in a weird or “off” way, they can invite them for an inspection, where they talk to the person to try to find out more about them. Profilers work in both the main halls and in passport checks. This typical question they ask is,
What's the purpose of your visit?
They then check the person's reaction to this inquiry. No matter how reserved a passenger is, if they have something to hide, TSA officers will find out thanks to the tiniest cues in people's behavior.
7. They know how aggressive you are
In a lot of big airports, there are special cameras that can identify a certain level of aggression. These cameras transmit the information to a computer and, in cases of dangerous levels of aggression (like when a person looks red on the screen), the suspect will be stopped by airport security for a detailed inspection.
They’re then examined by a combination of remote sensors, infrared technologies, and flashing certain subliminal images. This way, experts can detect an individual’s specific reactions by checking their heart rate, respiration, and body temperature. Perhaps one day we’ll all go by security checks without even realizing it!
6. They have no idea what happens to your luggage once it leaves the airport
Most people at one point or another have wanted answers to the question, “What happens to my luggage and why is it always so dirty?” Well, the short answer is that the airport staff don’t know once it leaves their territory, and they probably don’t care, sorry. Baggage is classified automatically: scanners scan the barcode and sort the baggage according to its destination.
The three main tasks of airport baggage handlers are…? to move your bags from the check-in area to the gate. ? to move your bags from one gate to another when you have a connection. ? and to move your bags from the plane to the baggage-claim area. And that’s it! Therefore, if your luggage doesn't move fast enough, it can be late for your connecting flight.
Or, this exact opposite, your bag gets to your destination before you do because you’re stuck at passport control. Another problem can arise if you forget to tear off any old stickers showing a different destination. In this case, the scanner might send your luggage to the wrong country! Oops!
5. They have dogs that check your bags
Before your luggage even gets on the plane, it goes through five security levels, and one of them (besides scanning the contents) includes being checked by a special dog that can sniff out dangerous chemicals.
It's a well-known fact that a dog's nose is much stronger than that of any human. Dogs distinguish smells from 10,000 to 100,000 times more reliably than people do. No wonder airports take advantage of this super-sense for security and regularly use these “sniffer dogs” to detect suspicious substances.
What’s cool is that you can’t even distinguish a detection dog from its “civilian” brothers and sisters. Unlike police dogs, the ones working at airports aren't qualified to frighten or intimidate people. The most famous sniffer breeds are Golden Retrievers, Labs, and German Shorthaired Pointers.
4. Your food is cooked around the clock
Most maximum airports are equipped with giant kitchens where the food for passengers is prepared. Those kitchens usually cook food for different airlines at once.
Also since that oh-so delightful airplane food must be cooked about 6-10 hours in advance, these kitchens have to work 24/7! And however surprising it might sound, the menu for your flight is developed up to a year in advance!
This is a common practice for most airlines because every single ingredient matters and adds to expenses. American Airlines managed to save $40,000 after they removed just one olive from every salad they served on their flights!
3. The airport controls the planes more than you’d think
Dispatchers not only control the planes in the sky (like you usually see in movies), but they also control their movement on the ground as well as the lighting on the runways. That's how? there are three types of air traffic controllers: en-route, terminal, and tower.
Each of these dispatchers has a specific area of responsibility. Unitedness dispatcher has about five monitors, and the information on them is constantly changing since the monitors show weather conditions and information about other planes. Talk about a stressful job!
2. They most certainly will check the validity of your visa, no excuses
If the airport staff finds out that your visa has expired or you just don’t have one when you enter their country, you’ll be deported by the same airline that brought you there. Not to mention, they have to foot the bill for the ticket as well, which means you can return home for free!
That's why the people at the check-in counters make sure you have a valid visa to the country of your destination because nobody wants to pay for your flight!
1. They know what’s been in your hands
Airport staff seldom ask passengers to rub their hands on a piece of cloth before putting it into a special machine. It might seem kind of scary, but it’s harmless. You’re normally being checked by a machine called an atomizer.
Before their working day starts, employees put samples of dangerous chemicals into the machine. The machine “memorizes” these smells, and in case a person's hands smell like those chemicals, it alerts airport staff to this danger.
