Originally Posted by
glennaa11
I hated connecting in PEK. Even though I only did it a couple of times and from IAD it is one of the quickest ways to BKK I refuse to do it again. The transit security was completely nuts the last time I went through there. I had a decent amount of camera gear and electronics and was required to remove every lens and device from my bag and place them in a bin. It took a long time and was a total PITA. They tried to hurry me along but I was like, you are the ones requiring me to do this so it is going to take a while. I've never been through any other airport requiring that. Maybe that's standard in China, I don't know. When flying back to the US it was also a total mess. I had a boarding pass already but when I tried to board they required me to go back to the desk and get a BP issued there instead of using the one I had. And then they searched everyone's bags in the hallway on the way to the plane. I vowed then to avoid the airport and now I just go via NRT, ICN or HKG instead.
I've never transited through a Chinese airport (unless you count HKG). Do you mean carry-ons here? I've certainly had the NRT experience many times, though they don't tend to stop many people for going through everything. Much worse is MEX where they wanted transit passengers to go through THEIR customs with both checked and carry-on bags as if they were arriving passengers
and then come back in as if you were starting the flight there.
Have also gotten the jetway ambush many times, either randomly or checking everyone.