Originally Posted by
NickB
And what did you expect him to tell you? Launch into a powerpoint presentation with a detailed explanation of the threat analysis carried out and the intelligence on which this may be based?
I would not expect a PAF officer to be in a position to discuss this anymore than I would expect an AF ticketing agent to launch into a discussion of the AFKL group strategy with Transavia. That is way above his or her pay grade.
It may well be that it is all show or it may well be that this is based on solid risk analysis or it may well be that it is somewhere between the two. If I were to hazard a guess, I would probably go for the last of those three possibilities but I am not a security expert and, from the depth of my lack of knowledge and competence, I will tend to give prima facie credit to professionals in the field, even if that credit is neither unlimited nor unconditional.
Looking at it from the distance, I'd also go for the third of the three possibilities, as that seems the most reasonable in the absence of any more insight.
But then at least for Paris CDG Terminal 2 there is something that does push me to believe it's the first possibility: it's all show and they do because they can. Otherwise, how to explain that these checks happen only in the afternoon, and only for flights arriving at 2F-2. How does that reflect a specific risk pattern? Flights arriving in 2F-2 could come from literally anywhere in the Schengen area, and that same flight or another flight from the same city may arrive in 2F-1 next time. If there is a pattern of "flights from Geneva have a higher risk score" then they should be checking all flights from Geneva, and not just the ones that happen to dock at 2F-2 in the afternoon.
Thus: either it's mainly show, or there is a real risk but then I am worried about the random execution of these security measures.