Took CO-6 NRT-IAH on Saturday. Was delighted to be first in line to board with my Plat status. Just as I was gearing up to gallop on board and stow my things, am grabbed by a masked and gloved Japanese security person who makes me take off my shoes, frisks me, empties pockets, and paws through all my carry ons. Meanwhile a ton of people have boarded behind me. I lost my overhead space.

At NRT they make disembarking passengers pass through security, then this. A little too much, and we can't even blame the hapless TSA !

So a word of warning for all you NRT-outbound passengers. Try to line yourself up as #3 or greater in the boarding line to avoid a delay.

I've been flying through there since the late 90's. Has always been like that. Now you know not to be first in line. And on that note sometimes they mix it up and grab the 3rd person or other positions, so you never know. Just something that has always happened at NRT.

Used to happen in the US....still happens at LHR, HKG, you name it.

I have seen random passenger checks in the US as recently as December.

Guess next time instead of appearing to be in such a hurry, I will just mosey on along, whistling an old Texas tune without a care in the world. Whatever.

There are pre-board security frisks on all USA bound flights from NRT, ICN, PVG, HKG and SYD. I would guess that every TPAC USA flight has the same thing, but I have experienced the gate grope at all of the above.

Chalk it up to the fact that pax keep trying to bring those incredibly dangerous and evil water bottles that passed through airport security on board the plane!

Why do they require connecting passengers to re-clear security? That is just nuts

I've done the gate check dance with the TSA for years, so I know how to scan the situation and avoid them - the Japanese version shouldn't be any different.

What might concern me is connection security making a fuss over carry-on size - how strict are they at these checkpoints? I don't want to get into an argument about a 22" carry-on that went just fine out of the US and out of Taiwan, but all of a sudden is too big for my connecting flight to Taiwan or back to the US.

Actually, we can. My understanding is that these gate checks are required because the regular security at those airports doesn't meet TSA requirements: among other things, shoes and belts don't need to be removed at NRT.

This has been standard at airports that have int'l-to-int'l connecting passengers since well before 9/11. Even prior to 9/11, it was a big blow to the prestige of an airport and/or country that was the departing city of a hijacked or blown up airplane. Since inbound int'l passengers were screened by an airport that was under the control of a different government and set of policies, there's a notion that no country wants to take the chance that inbound passengers have been properly screened. This is especially true in regions where the neighboring countries are not always on the best of terms - it's not beyond the realm of possibility that an inbound passenger arrives with something concealed on them with tacit awareness of the departing government.

Outbound from NRT, being #4 to #10 in line is perfect. Gate security staff are still occupied with the first 3 saps.

PVG does everyone, so that makes it easier.

Going HKG to GUM, we cleared security, but had a several hour wait due to a flight delay. We picked up a few bottles of water post security for the plane. After they finally started boarding, we walked down the jetway. Just prior to getting on the plane there was a security officer there who went through our bag, confiscating our water bottle. I thought it was odd, since we had already cleared security, but figured it was only done on US bound flights.

I learned the hard way too about 5 years ago when I travelled to GUM thru NRT. Being the first one almost always guarantees an extra screening.

This happened to me in PEK about 2 years ago. I purchased a bottle of water for the long nonstop to EWR and when we boarded I discovered that all liquids had to be thrown away, even if they were purchased in the airport.

I flew NRT-ICN on DL in December, and was unlucky enough to be chosen for the search.. The single agent made me prove that my laptop turned on, had me take off my shoes, frisked me, and then checked each bottle in my kippie bag..

Big waste of time, considering I had just gone through security when transferring from AC..