Yesterday my husband and I flew from MUC to YYZ, barely. We arrived at the airport nearly 3 hrs before our flight. The week before, we'd flown from MUC to Hannover. There was a longish line for security in T2 that day and we couldn't find the line for Business/Star Alliance Gold, so checking in for the Toronto flight I made sure to ask our check-in person where it was. She replied that it's always changing, but we should ask the security guards. We did, and they told us (words to the effect of): "We have many passengers, so only First Class passengers have a dedicated line: Business and Star Alliance join the Economy line."

So we did. It took us nearly 2 hrs to make our way through the line that snaked upstairs, downstairs, and throughout the departure area. We made the flight by 5 min. It was very stressful, with people trying to cut in front of us whose flights were later than ours.

We've travelled to Europe many times, most often through Munich airport. I've told many people it's well-organized and relaxing (as much as an airport can be). But my opinion has now changed. I'm asking fellow Flyer Talk members: is it common for the Priority Security Clearance to be suspended without warning at European airports in busy times such as Munich's Oktoberfest? Should this be added to the many factors one should consider in choosing a gateway destination for Europe? (I would note we were not Oktoberfest-bound but had to travel there at that time for a conference.)

Tiny silver lining: our bags were the first out at Pearson. It occurred to me that maybe someone was monitoring our (lack of) progress in the security line and got our bags ready to be offloaded in the likely case we didn't make the flight.