Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, CR

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Just though I would post this for anyone traveling to CR.
Security has always been a hassle departing Santamaria airport - security at check in just like the USA with scanners, etc. and then a 2nd security check at your gate which tends to be more detailed.
However on this last trip to CR we experienced much more aggressive security - not at check in, that was pretty much the same as usual, but the security check at your departure gate was very aggressive, especially for the men. Men had to take off their shoes and belts, get a pat down and the security guys dumped everything out of their carryons. I saw guys get their electric razors, toothbrushes (why this?), small tubes of toothpaste, bic lighters taken. One poor old man with a walker had his walker taken away from him and he was not even allowed to sit down to take his shoes off, so he was trying to hold up his pants since they made him take his belt off, and take his shoes off one handed - when he almost fell over, they finally let him sit down but gave him an especially aggressive pat down. Women did not have to take their shoes off - very inconsistent here, but had to take belts off. I had an aggressive pat down and then the woman security person opened my carry on bag and did not really take anything out except for my clear plastic TSA approved quart bag which held 1 tube of lipstick, a powder compact, small eye drops and a mini hand sanitizer and hand cream - well she tried to tell me these items were all TSA banned and she would have to take them all - I told her I don't think so and mentioned we may want to get a supervisor involved - I just kept staring her right in the eye and she finally gave them back - I think she just wanted to steal them since she seemed to really admire the lipstick. They also claimed they were TSA agents and that the TSA just passed new rules banning all this stuff - I just said "you are not TSA agents since you do not work for the USA federal government and we could print the list from the TSA web site saying what is banned - they kind of kept quiet after that. Some of these security folks were pretty young - I'd say maybe mid 20s and I think the power went to their heads. They also kept asking everyone how much money they had with them - when they asked me, I just replied "well under the 10,000 limit so it is really none of your business" They did open my husbands wallet and it looked like they were counting his money.
The hubby and I are pretty savy so we had nothing major taken, however, some other folks just kept quiet and let the security folks take whatever they wanted.
There was also a couple with 2 small children (around 3-4 yrs) and the kids were separated from their parents and given a very aggressive pat down - well into their crotch areas - the little girl was crying and there was nothing the parents could do.
Also noticed they were less aggressive with locals departing for the US or anyone that did not look American or European. Maybe some discrimination against western looking folks going on here.

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Also - no VIP lounge in the airport that accepts American Airlines 1st class passengers so if you have a layover here - no lounge to relax in ;-(
When we went in March 2012, we flew on United/Continental and the VIP lounges do accept the 1st/business 1st passengers from this airline and the lounge was very nice with lots of food and fruit laid out buffet style.

[jmbklj]

Eew, Denise that sounds like a horrible process. I can't believe they made people open their wallets! I think I may have refused that request or asked for a supervisor then.

I'm also surprised that parents allowed their children to be separated from them.

[kyshel]

I am totally GOBSMACKED!! Horrid!
Excellent report, DHD. Thank you so much for taking the time and telling us what you saw and experienced. I think you should send a copy to the tourism board. Maybe some folks on TA can advise source to report it to the airport.
I wouldn't doubt that there is a great deal of corruption in the security dept. Good for you for standing your ground. I nearly cried when I read about the old gentleman. My mom was roughly handled by the French at CDG (she was in her 70's). No excuse!!
I may start printing security info for some worrisome countries. I had a strange experience in Turkey (IST) as the outgoing flight Captain's wife. This was at the gate, and the Turkish police woman who searched me was not one to be questioned!
Good for all who read this--I hope you'll post in TA and other forums. Thanks again.

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All the other times I was in Costa Rica it was never like this - maybe the economy has gotten worse there and the security folks are resentful of Americans who can afford to travel - who knows!
All the other people in CR are very nice and helpful - we even had folks help us out when we got lost up in the cloud forest area. Most really wanted to speak with us and practice English, tell us how happy they were that Obama won the election and even wanted to make sure that we had voted (we did absentee ballot).
It was just these weird security police at the boarding gate who were like this - the regular airport security guys at the check in area were fairly nice.
Another passenger told us that Guatemala just instituted a similar process for security at the gate.
The gate guys did say that the TSA just instituted new rules in the past month - so maybe there are rules that the TSA does tell foreign airports they have to institute or maybe a terrorist plot was foiled in CR - most of that stuff never makes the news ;-)

[bonniejoy03]

This is toooooo creepy. Why these horrible changes???? Wonder if it is an issue with Central America? We didn't have any of these issues in Europe, South America or the Caribbean.

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CR has always had the double security check and back in March it was not like this - a hassle, yes, but not especially invasive. I did a really good read on the TSA web pages to see if I could find out anything about the rules they may impose on foreign airports and the only stuff I could find was basically that if a country wants to have planes dly from their airports to the USA then they have to institute the same security measures as in the states, so it looks like CR just take the regular TSA rules to the extreme and adds their own weird little twist ;-)

Another thing that has changed in CR since March (this is just for anyone who is a smoker) they already had in place that you can not smoke in dining establishments, bars and inside hotel rooms which is fine with me, however, now supposedly you can not smoke in public, especially within 15 feet of other people but hotels with balconies or patios still let people smoke on them, and people still walk around in towns smoking in public (lots of smokers in CR from what we could tell). There are no signs around telling you where you can or can not smoke - we found out when we came through customs on our arrival and were standing outside the airport no where near the entrance and the police told us we could not smoke there or anywhere else in public - did not make sense since we saw about 20 locals across the street all smoking - so we went across the street and hung out with the locals ;-) then we walked down to the Sansa terminal for our local flight and we could smoke in the Sansa parking lot just not near the gate and we could also smoke in our rental car. Seems like when CR passes a law or in the case of the airport security guys - they pick and choose when and on whom to enforce the law.
The new driving laws were also not enforced - we followed them to the letter but saw many, many others just zooming by way over the spped limit, not wearing seatbelts, etc. and the cops never pulled anyone over. I guess it is just the Pura Vida way of life ;-)

[danielboldea]

Years back when I used Amsterdam's Schipol Airport frequently, they used to have a second security check before entering the gate area. On one of my trips, an angry security officer came in and started yelling out that everyone needed to leave the gate area, and go through security again (a third time).

An elderly man that didn't understand the language just stood there, bewildered and shocked that everyone was leaving the gate area. The security officer started yelling at him in the most inappropriate way, "why are you staring at me, what are you stupid?"

I was in shock and did not expect such a scene in a European airport....

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I think all airport security folks are under tremendous pressure - I think they should just have guys standing around with machine guns like they do in some South and Central American countries - passengers get the point and usually do not get to unruly ;-)

The TSA in the USA have a lousy job and they are so underpaid - no wonder they can not get well trained and professional staff!

[Mountie]

I believe TSA agents start around $40K plus are also eligible for medical, dental and vision benefits along with a federal retirement and pension plan.

Considering most of the agents I have encountered, I have the opinion they are over paid. I also feel the taxpayer funded $8 - $9 Billion budget for the entire program is too large and growing.