I remember reading something about tough security/immigration methods at AMS that included (if I read correctly) interviews? I've travelled a lot before, and too some places that seem to always "interest" customs officals (Bosnia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, etc), and I manage to always get SSSS'ed in the US. What should my wife & I expect in terms of this interview?

Frankly I could care less, I have nothing to hide but my wife tends to get scared by such things, so I figure if I knew ahead of time, at least if/when it happens I won't have to 'act' like it's normal, I'll know it is...

Thx

-A

Not that bad.

Questions about where you stayed, who packed your luggage, have you accepted any gifts, do you own your electronic gadgets, who is paying for your trip...

All of it happens near the gate while standing at a podium. They will often have a number of questions that they fell they need to get the right answer for. Just answer with short responses, that is all they need.

They separated me from my friend and my questioner whispered, "How long have you known this guy?" When I said "About 12 years," then it seemed OK. But they certainly had a lot of random questions.

Yeah it sounds a bit weird. But like I said, I'll live & now I can warn the wife what to expect, so she knows it's normal, and doesn't think she is being randomly singled out.

I think she'll still afraid from the time she left a bag unattended in the intl' baggage claim at ORD just for a second, and when she returned to it, so did a customs offcr and he told his dogs to "SNIFF HER."

-A

When I was there, they actually took everyone aside and asked them a few questions, although they did take Americans (all Americans) aside for extra processing. It was in January, and U.S. had just gone off orange alert. That said, I think I got some extra questions because I had recently traveled to Nairobi and Panama City, and while I did this for birding, I suppose it is not beyond belief that these cities as well as AMS have been visited for purposes of money laundering. They actually asked a lot about birds although it was clear they knew little about them. I guess they just wanted to see if I could speak about them in a fairly knowledgeable sounding way.

I'll be flying through AMS again this winter, will be interested to see if they have relaxed any.

The questioning at Amsterdam is very efficient and polite. Sometimes they will separate people that are travelling together to see if they all have the same story. I've even seen an instance where an security agent asked all of the questions to a young child (maybe around 7 or 8) to see if the answers matched his father's reply. They were very friendly and polite, so it's not like they were badgering the kid, and the kid enjoyed it and felt very important and grown up. And I thought it was a brilliant way to verify the Dad's story!

Please note that these extra security interviews at AMS are ONLY when you are departing *to the USA on a US airline.* I fly out of AMS very often, and as I haven't been on a US based airline since 1996, I have yet to experience this security interview.

I got the interview, and it wasn't a big deal, pretty basic questions.

He asked me if I belonged to any frequent flyer programs

The most interesting interview was at TPE, they do something similar, and open your carry on.

I wasn't expecting it, and gave, which I inherited from my dad, the dirty look from hell. Dude got scared, and said it was routine, and yada yada yada, and apologized, and everything.

So, no biggie

Discussed here previously.