I'm surprised it took them this long. As far back as September, whenever I travelled through either FRA or ZRH, I had to take out my laptop and send it through the x-ray seperately.

I think the only problem at the checkpoint is that most people don't know about the regulation yet, and the problems arise when someone has to fiddle their laptop out of their bag or back in because they had no idea they would need to access it. Other than that, there is not really a problem. Sometime it makes me long for an "experienced travellers only" line, where people will have placed all items that were in their pockets into their carry-on, taken off their coats and belts and have their laptop out and at the ready before even reaching the conveyor belt.

It's what I do when I travel, and once I (finally) reach the end of the security line, I'm always through in less than 30 seconds. Imagine how fast those lines could move if everyone knew to do this - or if those people that don't know were in a different line...

But I absolutely agree with you that we're still much better off than the US as far as lost time because of airport security goes.