Ok guys, you have convinced me, i am not traveling to the USA , no holydays, no "Vegas trip", no California Beaches, nothing of that all ..:-)
I rather stay at this side of the atlantic ocean... :-)
TSA Confiscates Camera, Deletes Footage of Checkpoint
(29 posts) (13 voices)-
Posted 7 months ago #
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Dutch Nikon... as well you might, but I have a question for you.
I've flown through Schiphol many times. I've seen some weird stuff there. (I was mistakenly booked on the semi-secure floor of the hotel after the fire in the holding pens, for starters...) but here's what I don't get: Why is there a second round of metal detectors and questions at the gate? That is, I've already gone through Passport Control (we don't do exit interviews in North America, you don't want me in your country, fine, I'm leaving anyway damnit, but never mind...) and Security and then there's another whack of it at the gate. Without fail, this delays our boarding and without fail the plane leaves late. Like, 20 times out of 20.
The last time through, the inspector wanted to know where I bought my D90. "Not in the aeroport" was not a good enough answer... and if it was in the aeroport, who cares? He asked me over and over what I had pictures of. Walking down the ramp the passenger behind me said "Don't mind him, he's Frisian", and everybody I met in Leeuwarden and Groningen were fine, so I didn't get that either.
Posted 7 months ago # -
"so I didn't get that either"
Me neither .... :-)
"the inspector wanted to know where I bought my D90"
Well in tense times they do ask that kind of questions because it also seems to have happened that ppl were given "presents" which seemed to contain xplosive stuff at the entrance of the airport.
Never had any trouble with those inspectors at Schiphol..
The second check & metal detectors at the exit gates do not function as an exit check, but a check for entering USA territory when boarding the planes.
These were, as far as i'm aware, installed at request of the USA government as they are always paranoid for ppl carying stuf they do not like to much into the airplanes, so do not blame the Dutch for that..Generally when boarding a plain that flies between European countries this second check is not there, and you only go once through the metal detectors for those flights..
Posted 7 months ago # -
Interesting, Dutch Nikon, thanks very much!
Just for the record though I've never once flown from Schiphol to the US. Finland (Schengen country as I recall), Russia, Canada (my country), and mostly Curacao (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands--in some sense, a domestic flight!). I've always gone through the second check--but to be fair I haven't flown through there in a couple years.
The biggest hassles were actually on the flights to Curacao. And I found that strangest of all: yes, there's a drug trade between Holland and the Islands but I'm betting 95% of the drugs by cash value are flowing in the opposite direction. (And Curacao customs/immigration couldn't care less... "You're leaving? OK!")
Posted 7 months ago #
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