johan rebel

I went through late this morning.

I was the only Privium member, but the lines at all the regular, J/Elite and short connection immigrations checkpoints were pretty long. From there several lines snaked their way to the two security checkpoints on the left, blocking access for Privium pax. I do not like cutting in line, I find it embarrassing and impolite, but nevetheless decided to do so on this occassion. There is, after all, a sign saying that Privium members have priority, although it is so small and hangs so high up that not many people are likely to see it. That includes the security staff.

As luck would have it, the person I cut in front of was a gentleman from South America, who only spoke Spanish and had obviously never heard of Privium, so his not unreasonable response was to start shoving. I still managed to get my stuff on the belt, only to be stopped after having gone through the metal detector arch and told to go back and put my shoes on the belt. The is a first time for everything, I guess. Having complied, I went through the arch again, only to be selected for a random patdown. The agent manning the detector told me to stop and remain where I was, thus blocking everybody behind me.

There was a lady ahead of me waiting to be patted down, but the agent in charge was a male, so they were waiting for somebody to find a female agent somewhere. You would think that he would take the opportunity to pat me down in the meantime, but no, his job was apparently to closely watch the female pax until his colleague arrived. You never know what these rascally passengers might be up to, after all.

While we all waited, the whole checkpoint came to a complete halt, except for the scanner which kept on spitting out bags, including mine, from which I had forgotten to remove my liquids. Nobody noticed.

So much for the Privium experience!

Johan