no. when i do have to travel though, i follow strict rules of my own.
1. wear an outfit with no metal
2. pack jewelry
3. carry on ONLY. no exceptions.
4. go online ahead of time to make sure ALL airline rules are followed.

normally my party and i get processed extremely quickly.

have a safe and enjoyable trip.

Natchitoches huh?

Im originally from New Orleans. I been to Nat a few times. Have fun!!

of course! a very non-anglo friendly name coupled with the brown pride and a side of tattoos. Security felt compelled to confiscate my EMPTY nalgene bottle and ask me if I spoke english.

No, If people get trouble from security, its beacuse they do not fly smart.
Get all documents ready before going in to security. Get shoes off and ready to go though. be fast and efficient.
Have a safe trip!

NOt so much anymore but I used to because apparently I at one point in time apparently fit the profile of a drug mule - young black female lots of stamps in my passport to the carribean, south america and europe….well duh, I worked for an airline for 10 years!!!!! What was the POINT if I couldn't head somewhere else for a long weekend! Now, I get no attention when traveling for business, and I usually have my kids, and unless my youngest is having an issue, we get pretty much ignored…..

I have been sidetracked into plenty of additional security lines after guards read my name… Me with my passport, license, student id, boarding pass/ticket and itinerary in hand while wearing flip flops and also holding every lotion, lip gloss of other possible liquid or gel in my clear plastic bag…I guess the only way I can travel any smarter is to change my Indian last name…

i used to recruit students at the magnet school their in nat….

i do get a little anxiety going through those lines. i hate situations where you're at the mercy of others who could just f*ck with you if their feeling particularly stank that day. typically, though, i have no issues.

^^yikes…

"THERE in the nat"

No. I get it for my Arab-looking last name.

I do. Especially if I'm flying international. It's hard flying while African. But I gotta admit that it would be worse if I were an African Muslim.

Like Divalicious, I used to get profiled as a drug mule. Single black woman, travelling in the Caribean. Couldn't a sister take a vacation?

The last time I flew, I got pulled out of line. Now this was an international flight. People speaking Russian, Arabic, Chinese and any other language you could name, got on the plane. No problem. The black woman from the Midwest? Must be a terrorist. When I asked how I got selected, the attendants said it was random. At that point I announced, loudly, that it didn't look real random to me. Boy, they couldn't pull white folks out of line fast enough after that!

Suffice it to say, I don't fly much anymore.

Louisiana, Lauren? I thought you were 100% yankee. You had me fooled.

How many people do you know can pronounce Natchitoches? Prob not many. Just like Pontchartrain and Tchoupitoulas. LOL.

Hey, I got singled out once when I wore my Urban Outfitters "The Best Girls are Black" shirt to the airport. So, I definitely agree.

Yes, one time I was taken out of the line and the security decided to look through all of my luggage. I was so embarassed by the experience. I am Af Am but some could mistake me for Middle Eastern (I am not sure how but I've been told) although I am not sure if that search was about, it did hurt my feelings a great deal though.

Nope I usually breeze through.

Have a safe and wonderful trip!

Divalicious and Khia same thing would always happen to me coming from the Caribbean after visiting family. Once I had 5 seperate officers ask to see my passport while in line waiting to collect my baggage. They kept asking me if I knew other people on the flight, why I was alone, and saying "oh well thats strange because that passenger said they know you." Which was a complete lie. I came home one year with a large piece of cheese for my mother and they said they had to cut it in half. They looked so upset that there was not any drugs inside. I just came back from vacation and had no big problems though. Have a good trip Lauren!

No, I am usually treated very well.

I'm Arabic with a very stereotypical last name so I always get pulled aside and fucked with.

I remember last time I went to security and the looked at my passport and being asked if all the people where I was born looked like me, and what other languages other than English do I speak (I knew he was hoping I would say Arabic so I could give him cause to detain me)

The official had a problem reconciling what appeared to be a French first name, a Jewish/Arabic last name, with an African female who did not according to him look typically African.

Then he proceeded to get flirtatious, telling me that he would visit Africa since I sparked his interest(wink wink). I thought I would vomit all over him, but instead I stayed calm through the whole ordeal while silently screaming go F… Yourself.

Well that explains it!!!! I wondered why I was the only one asked to go into a side room while they searched everyone one of my bags after coming back from Jamaica. I was a young black female traveling alone. They thought I had drugs. I was just glad they didn't find the Cuban Cigars I brought for my boyfriend at the time.

Depends where I am travelling to.
I have a non-anglo, non-Christian name.
I try to avoid the US since my passport has a lot of African and Asian stamps in it.

Generally I get asked a thousand questions including "why is your English so good?". The mark of a criminal I'm sure.

Got pulled for a strip-search once, by someone convinced I was in the terror business.
I did say, at the top of my lungs, "yeah I am sure they are recruting French-speaking Canadian black Jewish lesbians all the time"… his colleagues carefully told him maybe I didn't need a strip-search after all.

Power-tripping dim-wits.

I can't say that I've been given "extra" attention, but I always traveled on my birth certificate until the laws changed (I don't travel much within the US by plane), so we'll see what happens now that my recently obtained passport will have a million stamps from Jamaican immigration????? A reggae artist named Richie Spice has a real nice video regarding the scrutiny you receive in airports based on profiling,you can check it out here http://yawdfromabroad.com/vide.....lane-land/