PoliceStateSurvivor

As I posted earlier in another thread, last Septemeber I had a misfortune of connecting to US-bound flight at FRA. I do not wish to repeat all the disgusting details.

I wrote complaint letters. Here is an e-mail reply I received:

[I]Thank you very much for your notice dated on November 8th 2007. We deeply regret that you perceived the security checks at Frankfurt/ Main airport as so annoying.

The German Ministry of the Interior has laid down a special type of control. Its main purpose is to meet the highest possible degree of accuracy in terms of security standards. Patting down passengers with a metal-detecting wand and hand, checking hair, feet, shoes, the genital area and the thoracic regions constitutes now the standard procedure. It is in line with the more stringent security guidelines that emerged from the 9/11 events. This pattern of control is conducted with every passenger, no matter where he or she comes from and travels to.

Due to constructional conditions it is not possible to install a walk-through metal detector at the checkpoint you had to pass to get to your flight to Chicago. On the same account we cannot provide a separated cabin for passengers, who feel uneasy when being controlled in public.

The checkpoint at gate C1 is the only one in the design mentioned above at Frankfurt/ Main airport. All the other checkpoints are equipped with walk-through detectors and most of them are provided with a control cabin. But also at these standard-equipped checkpoints a manual control as you were subjected to can be necessary.

We can assure you that the design of the C1 checkpoint has not been set up to hassle our costumers - the constructional conditions do not allow an extended equipment. Of course, it is our intention to make the security checks as comfortable as possible.

We apologize many times for the inconvenience. However, we hope we would be pleased to have you again at our airport as a guest. Hopefully, you will find your next visit to our airport more to your satisfaction.

Sincerely yours,

(Contact Details Removed)

Recommendation: Avoid FRA.

Spiff

Second that.

Another "because of 9/11" canned reply. Screw those cowards.

Xyzzy

How big is FRA? There is no room at the gate for a WTMD? Excuse me, my BS detector just went off!

PoliceStateSurvivor

Not that I expected anything else. I posted the entire reply for the sake of intellectual honesty.

However, I did not expect them to be this brazen in their justification of their mistreatment of passengers. Of particular interest is the comment that German Ministry of Interior established these rules. SS and Stasi must have come back to life. They make TSA look like a model of respect for our civil liberties.

Jenbel

Why is the fact that the ministry responsible for security set the rules for security at airports interesting? Who else should set them - the ministry for agriculture?

Your comments alluding to events in the past are frankly distasteful. Posting the contact details of the person responding is also a breach of FT TOS.

PoliceStateSurvivor

My point was that this treatment of passengers is sanctioned by the government, not a whim of a local power-tripper. Perhaps, all travel to Germany should be avoided, just like some people avoid traveling to the US for essentially the same reason: They do not want to be treated like criminals.
I find government-sanctioned mistreatment of people far more distasteful. Having experienced life in the Soviet Union, I am entitled to compare.
Duly noted and corrected.

Kiwi Flyer

FRA security is not at the gates themselves - the setup doesn't allow for that. Rather it is at the entrance to each section of the terminal.

The C area is used for (some) flights to USA, as well as Israel. The security checks here have been more invasive than in other parts of FRA. Whenever I ask the answer given is due to USA's requirements. Now I don't for a minute believe USA says "must do pat down" - that certainly doesn't happen when I fly to USA from various other countries. However there must be something there that leads to tougher security in C area than other parts of FRA.

Flaflyer

However there must be something there that leads to tougher security in C area than other parts of FRA, yes like you mentioned in your post: ISRAEL.

US flights do get a gate screen. I have never left FRA from C but I have done NW to DTW from E several times. There is a second full screen at the gate (into the gate holding pen) which takes longer than the main screen downstairs.

Peregrine415

It's not just FRA, it's also MUC. And I can't even begin to tell you about smoking inside FRA--even though there are designated smoking areas. I've managed to avoid FRA for over a year now (and used ZRH instead). I've received better treatment in the hands of Israeli security.

SmilingBoy

Think again about what you state here.

flyinbob

Connected through FRA a couple of weeks ago. Came in on a LH flight from TXL, where security was mild, then simply walked over to the elevators, went up one flight, and to my UA gate in the A concourse. No other security anywhere, including the gate.

Spiff

That should be the rule, rather than the exception.

flyinbob

Actually, I think it now is. The only place you'll face security is changing terminals by going outside security.

Spiff

B -> C "security" sucked the last time I was there, and anything involving terminal D also sucked. At both entrances (C from B and also D) they were a bunch of shoe perverts and touchy-feely gropers. Now, I guess they're also obsessed with liquids.

LGA_UAL

You can always go through security from the lobby into C, and then you can avoid the more intensive B--> checkpoint.