just to move from theory about why it was done and go to experiance,
+3 ok with us passport, i another bochur and a rabbi, (with a sefer torah) transffered in istanbull, jfk-ukraine... the one incident, was a turkish officer at security, imitated the elal guys, by asking me (i saw he didnt ask anyone else) did you pack your bags? did anyone give you something to deliver? pens? cd? and a few other questions, that are specific to the elal guys,.. then he laughed and sent me on my way... we were actually flying turkish airlines..