Originally Posted by Sneezy
Just remember, it can be worse. Try flying El Al, or most any flight to Israel. You get questioned - in depth - by a uniformed soldier carrying an Uzi. And likely as not the soldier is female, and maybe 20 years old.
That's probably punishment for the way they drive in Israel - literally on the sidewalks in places!
Seriously, one does hope there is a real reason to do all that security. For one, it's
expensive.
Yeah, it is. Of course, both times it was at Schipol after a hard redeye in Y on NW. And a bit less than ten years ago to boot. So it may not be all that accurate a memory.
Except for the part about Israelis driving on the sidewalks. That's a bit hard to forget when you have to dive into the nearest alleyway. FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT="
Sorry, or as they say in Israel: Sleecha, but your story does not fly. I've traveled TLV many time and also in SDV and ETH. Never, not once, have I seen armed soldiers at an israeli airport who were not regular pax or waiting for their familly to land. In Israel, soldiers are everywhere obly because there is a draft and they often go about personal chores n uniform and armed. El Al security and TLV security in general is not uniformed and if armed they have nothing visible. I espessialy doubt that there would be armed ISRAELI soldiers with Uzis in Amsterdam. Oh, and besides that, most Israeli soldiers carry the M-16 assault rifle, not an Uzi. That is not to say some don't have uzis, I would not know.