I was returning from Madrid Terminal 4 Priority lane the other day. So in Europe they're really big about all your liquids being put in one of their little ziploc bags, unlike the TSA which has taken a chill pill to some degree.

So they scan my bags, say there's a problem with the liquids in my bag. Ok, I have to walk around the metal detector, fish out my personal amenities and put them into a plastic bag.

But no, that wasn't enough. They noticed I had two sealed AA amenity kits in my bag, which probably collectively contained 3 oz of liquid. Hand creams and the like. And they wanted me to open the amenity kids so they could see the liquids. I said I didn't want to open them because I'm bringing them home as gifts for my family, and I'd like to present them with sealed kits.

Well, first of all the security staff at Madrid don't really speak English so it takes several minutes for them to understand where I'm coming from. I tell them, ok no problem, I'm going to head back outside to the check-in counters and check my bag in with the amenity kits because I don't want to open them.

NO!!! You can't leave this area. I said, I'm just going to check in my bag and start packing my things to take back to the AA counter. At this point one of the security screeners yelled at me to stand still while they got the police.

Ok, no problem. Get the police. A policeman comes, at which point he starts speaking to me rapidly in Spanish - at which point I had to interrupt and say... excuse me, do you speak English? He stops, looks at me and rolls his eyes. No, he doesn't speak English either. So where do they hire all these staff who can't speak English in the international terminal where people of all nationalities transit?

Apparently one woman at this checkpoint could speak English, and they summoned her to my lane, who then told me "you're lucky you're not in New York, do you know what they do there? You go through security in your underwear". No, I've been through New York 1,000 times and trust me, you don't go thru security in underwear.

So in the end, after a lot of commotion, they tell me I can't leave the checkpoint without opening the amenity kits for them. The security screener pointed to a number of signs in the area citing EU regulations about this being some controlled area, etc. He puts the amenity kits through the scanner again to show me that he can tell there are creams inside the kit and he has to see them.

So I was forced to open the amenity kits, and what do they do... they don't even look at them. They swabbed them, put it into their machine, and then said now screening is done.

What was the point of all of this... and why are they so zealous. I haven't been in any other country where they forced me to open sealed airline amenity kits. When I crammed my personal amenities into a quart-sized bag, they were all stacked on top of each other and they couldn't see them any better inside that X-ray machine than they could see thru a cloth airline amenity kit. So what kind of security enhancement did that provide.

And is it true you can't leave a security checkpoint to check-in something you don't want to open?