Originally Posted by
transitguy1
Recently,
In Vienna(VIE) Austria, at the security screening point, I was instructed to also place my passport for scanning along with my personal belongings (bags, belt, jacket,etc). Upon inquiry, the security officer said that all passports also need to be scanned in the xray machines.
In other SouthAsian/EU/UK/Canadian airports this is never done. Only noticed it so far in VIE.
Is this the norm in VIE/Austrian airports for passport scanning? Are there any other places where this is done?
I was a bit surprised specially because the security screening was done AFTER the passport control. Surely if passport was 'suspicious' the passport control official would have stopped the person before they got to the gate.
I've seen this done at several airports throughout the world - place passport in the bin with all your loose change etc.. I can't remember which airports, but it has been in a variety of countries, and seems to be a fairly standard practice. I have not been required to place my passport in plain site, if it is already secured in my carry-on baggage.
I don't think it has anything to do with verifying the validity of the passport.