US Customs Seals for airline employees question

[besafe2]

Chewy thanks for your help in this. And now I have one more question. Is it a new requirement to have a Customs seal for working a outbound int'l. flight ? Say to Aurba, Mexico City, Europe, etc?

And the reason I ask this for many many years no seal required to work the OUTBOUND flight now we are told to have one. Again thanks for your help.

[Joeyd6]

What is all the fuss about getting the seal anyways?

What is required to get it (classs, fingerprints, etc...)?

If need for employment I ams sure they paying any associated cost your time on the clok to get it. So who cares they are now requiring it. Why not just smile and get it?

[besafe2]

What is all the fuss about getting the seal anyways?

What is required to get it (classs, fingerprints, etc...)?

If need for employment I ams sure they paying any associated cost your time on the clok to get it. So who cares they are now requiring it. Why not just smile and get it?

All ready smiled & got it

[chewy]

Chewy thanks for your help in this. And now I have one more question. Is it a new requirement to have a Customs seal for working a outbound int'l. flight ? Say to Aurba, Mexico City, Europe, etc?

And the reason I ask this for many many years no seal required to work the OUTBOUND flight now we are told to have one. Again thanks for your help.

I'm not at the airport anymore but my understanding is that after 9-11 they started incorporating it so as to have total control (or at least better control) of both in and outbound areas.

[basher52]

That's not really true, The Customs hall and the international freight areas are the Customs area. They are seperated from the other areas of the airport and domestic flights/freight by fences, walls etc. Customs areas are well defined and controlled and once a passenger leaves our area they are no longer under the authority of CBP unless we keep eyes on them for Nexus purposes. Customs has no authority in a domestic terminal unless it has outbound international flights but the inbound international flights are seperate from the domestic flights. If your at a small airport where they are all mixed together I can see requiring the seal but if not (and to my knowledge all airports have a seperate area for international) it's just our management trying to push everyone around again... par for the course.

Chewy, everything here in NY is different. And yes, only at International Airports (JFK, EWR). Lately, if you work the ramp areas, you got the seal, not just for Customs Hall. Here (NY) they feel every area can be or IS a Customs area. At least that is the thinking lately. It appears to me that many more are getting it.

[scott715us]

We have sporadic custom's flights at BNA, but those working the aircraft have regular SIDA clearance just like anyone else. Normally the only folks in the Terminal where customs is being conducted are the CBP folks. We can be down there, but usually we're not unless requested by CBP for a local-related charge, warrants, etc. Since there is a secondary checkpoint just for those coming from international flights, a LEO is required to be there when TSA is conducting screening once the custom's process is complete. The airline personnel working the flight do not come into the customs area. Where they re-check bags and do other work is separated by a couple of sets of doors. The rampers stay on the ramp. There is not an extra "seal" on anyone's badge here, except for a big letter that indicates who is armed and who isn't. :D

[besafe2]

Sgt. Scott:
What about the ramp folks who unload those inbd int'l flights, are they not required to have the Customs seal ?

It has always been this way at my airport IF you unload the int'l arrivals.

[Norm357]

Remember boys and girls....

[scott715us]

Sgt. Scott:
What about the ramp folks who unload those inbd int'l flights, are they not required to have the Customs seal ?

It has always been this way at my airport IF you unload the int'l arrivals.

Not that I am aware of. Anyone that is required to work the ramp has to have SIDA clearance, which includes a federal background check. The rampers could be from different airline's, depending on who is actually working the charter flight that is coming in (usually from Mexico).

I do not stand down there when this flight comes in, but I am pretty sure the rampers working the flight do not come into the terminal. At our airport, they load the bags rampside onto a belt that subsequently takes the baggage to the appropriate area of the Terminal. There is no reason for them to actually make entry into the Custom's area where the passenger's are waiting.

[chewy]

Chewy, everything here in NY is different. And yes, only at International Airports (JFK, EWR). Lately, if you work the ramp areas, you got the seal, not just for Customs Hall. Here (NY) they feel every area can be or IS a Customs area. At least that is the thinking lately. It appears to me that many more are getting it.

Ya, the ramp rats that work the international flights also have to have them here... the area where our planes park and unload is just outside of the terminal Customs Hall so that whole area requires the customs seal.