I’ve flown through Schiphol Airport a lot over the last few years. In fact, the Netherlands is one of my favorite destinations as a business traveler and I have probably passed through that airport 30-40 times. I normally stay at a hotel at the airport, making it very convenient. I catch a direct flight from Houston, land, and take the shuttle to the hotel. No other place that I travel can I make it to the hotel (to recover from jet lag) in such time.
The airport is also convenient in that it has several shops, a grocery store, and a train station that allows me to quickly travel most anywhere in Holland.
But one complaint I have always had (and have made comments about in the past) is how weak security is at the airport. Security checks are always at the gate, unless you’re traveling in the Schengen zone, where you go through one security checkpoint to get to all the B gates (I think, maybe C too?). Most flights to the U.S., at least Continental, fly from G gates, while some KLM flights fly from F I believe.
Regardless, all the flights leaving for the U.S. have security checks at the gate. For the most part, I like this. It is very convenient to get to the airport and be able to do whatever you want, waiting to go through security at the last minute. You can bring a bottle of water, walk around all the shops, etc. However, what it means in terms of security is that you have to have a lot of equipment and have your security people shuffle around. The equipment stays at the gate while the security personnel show up just before a flight.
The implication is that you can really only have minimal amounts of equipment at each gate. There are typically two sets of scanners and metal detectors, normally only one in use. The security personnel, while professional, seem to brisk you through rather quickly compared to U.S. airports.
I always wear boots on my trips. I wear a Western style pair with a large heel and tops which are 18.5” high. I always remove them in the U.S. but have gotten in the habit of never removing them in Holland. They never ask for my shoes, although they’re always rather serious about my belt.
There is never any explosive detection equipment at the gate, so security there could not have detected the recent bomber. While I’m not inferring that a U.S. airport would have detected the explosive material either, I can confidently say that Amsterdam would have NEVER detected it.
So now they plan to use full body scanners at all U.S. bound gates. This will be a definite improvement, although I have mixed feelings about it. I’ve been through the body scanner before in Houston (while it was being tested) and found it very quick and very convenient. It’s about the only way to catch this sort of thing. But at the same time, I feel sorry for the poor guy or gal that has to look at the naked image of my body! Yikes!
One thing that is lost in all of this is, **** happens. We’re never going to catch 100% of those who want to sneak onto planes and do us harm. What we, and the terrorists, have hopefully learned is that while screening helps, vigilant passengers count just as much.
