nacho

If you are HH Diamond, then you definitely have lounge access, also I was also told that the lounge hasn't really got a licence for selling lounge access, so once they got it they won't let Gs have lounge access. The lounge is on the top floor - and there's a millionaire gambling club next to it called Apex Club - I read it on the Chinese forum that you can go straight up to gamble if you have 1m.

Anyway, you don't need to pay for public transportation when you are in Conrad - Sands has shuttles to the Cotai pier and the outer ferry terminal. If you need to Galaxy you can walk to Venetian to take a shuttle from there. For Macau peninsula you can take one from the Star hotel across Sands (you need to cross a road).

helosc

Yes, I knew about the shuttles from the two harbours - I'm planning on sailing to Macau straight from the airport.
But didn't know much about the other shuttles - so shuttle from the Star hotel to town, nice to know.

GUWonder

Today yet again the regular CPH security lines were long and slow. Even saw a security screener cut open a retirement-age woman's purse to pull out a mini-bottle of hand-sanitizer or something like that which would easily fit into one of those little plastic bags. Ridiculous -- no less so when they have ETD devices for use here.

Ever since the automated strip search machines became a primary type of passenger screening machine, the security lines have become slow and long and the variance in wait and process times has expanded. Adding in automated image detection software for x-Rayesque screening of passenger bags also isn't a panacea. Have they started using this at CPH too?

ksu

"Cut open" as in destructively opening the purse using a knife or scissors?

GUWonder

Yes, as in cutting open a lining inside the purse and/or possibly even from outside of the purse. What I do know is that it wasn't more than a travel size bottle of hand sanitizer. Perhaps the purse can be "stitched back", but it won't be the same as before it was subjected to "screening" at CPH.

I've spent a lot of time at airports and seeing what passenger security screeners do to passengers and hand baggage, but I've never seen this happen anywhere else before at a primary passenger screening checkpoint in Europe or the Americas over a mini-bottle of hand sanitizer in a plastic bottle.

nacho

Why did they need to cut open a purse? Secret compartments? Any normal purse can be open without a knife.

GUWonder

No secret compartments from what I got of the situation. Sounded more like a lining in the bag had a hole in it into which a mostly-used mini-hand sanitizer bottle (less than 3.2oz/100ml-sized) had gotten into but couldn't be located or removed by the screener without cutting it out.

You've never had a pocket in a clothing item or elsewhere develop a hole into which say coins slip in but from which they don't easily slip out? I wouldn't call that a secret compartment.

nacho

I know the "unintentional" secret compartment created due to a hole from wear and tear - it's really annoying - I normally sew it up as soon as I found one because once I found my car key slipped into a hole inside my jacket and having to take it off and guided it back to the whole is a real PITA.

What can she do to harm anyone with the sanitizer? This whole liquid BS is just real BS. I can't bring my contact solution unless I pay the same price for a big bottle and get a small one, again what can I do to harm the human nation by having a bottle of contact lens solution? Thinking about this just drive me crazy.

GUWonder

I'm not sure if the mini bottle even had anything liquid left in it. I did get enough details to be able to try to follow up on the situation. Before this year, I just never expected to see CPH cutting open a purse over a miniature plastic bottle and nothing more. CPH has gone from being one of my favorite airports to use to being amongst those that I merely tolerate as much as I have to tolerate it for my convenience. Otherwise the variance in wait times, in processing times and in the outcome has combined together to make CPH a poor version of its former self. If it's not the CPH "central" security screening making a mess of the ability to plan without wasting a lot of time, it's now CPH passport control making a mess with the long, slow lines to leave the Schengen area.

oliver2002

You can bring a 'big' bottle without any issues, they usually take a good look and let you go. Make sure the bottle is clearly outside the bag. Avoid hydrogen peroxide based solutions though (clear care), those could potentially be used for other nasty things and hence the new fluid testers they have may give warnings.

The fluid ban is about to be lifted in Europe, screening technologies have moved on and once they have installed and certified the new equipment they will lift it.

More here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...cy-debate-687/

(just fyi, since this Kafe seems to circle back to TS/S topics all the time)

GUWonder

Just FYI, but isn't it within the range of normal for frequent acquaintances engaged in daily or weekly coffee shop talk to circle back to the same topics every once in a while? I would have thought the world would be a more boring and silent place if the order of the day was to never discuss again any and all matters previously discussed.

Discussing CPH airport with people who use CPH a lot -- something that has a home in the SK forum more than anywhere else on FT -- involves discussing what passengers experience at CPH.

And CPH having gotten new screening equipment is part of the reason why CPH is a poorer experience than it used to be for passengers at CPH -- at least those of us who use it several dozen times a year. New equipment used at airports doesn't necessarily equal better experience at the airport. This has been very much in evidence at CPH this year.

klmml

Frankly, the security checkpoint experience at Nordic airports is comparatively fabulous.

I have no complaints, and while it seems popular to complain about CPH, I haven't had trouble there either. Compared to the US or British airports (or even German ones), they are all painless.

FlyingMoose

Reading the thread I was going to point this out but it seems we have the same experience.

There isn't any airport left in Europe that beats ARN fast-track, its a quick and painless experience without unnecessary interruptions and investigations or random bleeps. No inefficient x-rays scanner but the traditional metal detector which does the job.

In Europe LHR is the worst airport by a mile, easily mitigated by not exposing transit passengers to the unnecessary additional security screening. The queues are terrible, fast-track is a joke and staff is really not suitable to interact with other humans.

In the last year or two the situation at AMS has also become absurd. The new fast-track forks into the regular queues where you get priority to use one of the 'loading spots' which is then followed by the x-ray scanner, which despite wearing the same thing every flight which doesn't trigger in any other airport in the world, leads to an additional manual search in AMS. When they redid the Schengen terminal they must have also required security staff to drop at least 30 points in IQ putting them at LHR levels.

This seems to be naturally spreading to CPH. I can only hope this doesn't make it to ARN.

Very little problems at German airports, though I primarily use MUC. If you stick to the rules then things work well in Germany and there is very little debate or interaction with security staff.

GUWonder

If the route network weren't as much of an issue, I'd choose ARN over CPH when wanting reduced variance in wait and processing times in lines. And in this regard, I'm not talking about just the passenger/cabin baggage screening and passport control lines; I'm also talking about the check-in aspect too.

nacho

Thanks Oliver! I'll try to save a tiny drop from my big bottle (355ml) to try to bring it through CPH security next month. I normally just dump all liquids on the tray when I go through security - I never travel alone so I have plenty of allowance, so I never bother to put them in the stupid 1l bag.

The big problem with security is that they don't do things by the book - e.g. you can bring a nail file through too in theory, but in practice they can take it away and you can waste your precious 30-45 minutes to argue with them and possibly escalate to a manager.

So far I have only experienced ARN T4 from landside to airside and it was very empty when we were there - very relaxed. CPH is a real mess and maybe the less traffic will make the queue through security shorter.