Originally Posted by
STBCypriot
FTA ""They do it in Europe, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't do it here," David Jones, a 73-year-old retiree from Shapleigh, Maine, who was heading to Spokane, Wash., says of questions about where he was headed and whether he was traveling alone."
And some of the comments at the bottom of the say something similar.
Where do they do this in Europe? I live in Europe and have travelled extensively in Europe and have NEVER been asked these questions or been SPOTed. at any European airport I have flown out of The only time I am asked stupid annoying questions is when flying from Europe to the US when they do the useless "who packed your bags?" litany of questions.
They don't; at least not in any country I've been to over the last 20+ years. I've nothing against Mr Jones, but I'm willing to bet he hasn't been to Europe in the last 20 years, if at all.
It's truth by repeated assertion, a combination of "It sounds like the kind of thing foreigners would do" and "Everything is worse outside the US".
There was one (at least) person here who claimed to work for TSA who frequently argued that airport security was more intrusive, slower, more arbitrary - just generally worse all around - in "other countries." After several rounds where those of us who actually, ya know,
go to "other countries" challenged him to name just one place, he shut up.
