Originally Posted by
Never Stansted
If the OP hadn't named the airport but had asked us to guess ARN would have been my call. I didn't have a hostile experience there, but it was much more extensive that anywhere else in the EU (and even in the US). Wanted to see every hotel reservation for the trip. 'Why are you changing hotels for the final night?' 'Can we see your return ticket?' Sweden is one of the few places where I still make sure to have everything printed off as their instinct doesn't seem to be to take people at their word.
Indeed ARN is also the airport where I have had my worst ever border control experience a couple of years ago. Their IT systems were down, but instead of processing people manually they were just refusing entry to everyone except Swedish nationals and residents (and the flight crew - it was a nightstopper).
They detained all non-Swedes in the pre-border control area for well over 1.5 hours. I can deal with queueing, but the uncertainty of not even knowing whether you could enter the country - they claimed "the border is closed indefinitely, you will be held until the morning" (this was at around midnight) - was most unpleasant.
It was only resolved once a critical mass of passengers threatened to call the police or to 'storm' the desks. At that point they magically started processing people manually, just as they could have done from the outset.
Allowing Swedes through, but not other EU citizens, was blatant discrimination in breach of the Schengen Border Code. Unfortunately my complaint to the Swedish Ombudsman didn't end up going anywhere because the Swedish border agency said "sorry". Well that's alright then, I guess
Suffice it to say I am boycotting ARN for the foreseeable future. And that's as a dual UK/EU citizen...