This evening I spent some time in a security line at Schiphol - which seemed to be particularly slow-moving.

The reason for the slow progress became apparent when I observed those who were ahead of me... it seemed that none of them were ready for the x-ray machine when it was their turn, and much time was wasted while people took off their coats and went through their pockets and emptied out loose coins, pens, keys, more loose coins and more pens and more keys.

And these weren't once-a-year leisure travellers (whom I would cut some slack) - most of them were men in suits, with quite a few KLM Platinum and Gold baggage tags dangling from their briefcases.

When I'm queuing for a security check I always try to organise myself so that in most cases all I have to do is put my bags and coat on the belt and walk through. I take my coat off while I'm waiting, I check my pockets while I'm waiting, and if I'm in North America I make sure my laptop is easily accessible... so that hopefully I'm not holding anybody up unnecessarily.

I would estimate that each of these disorganised businessmen probably added up to 30 seconds to my wait, so with about 20 of them in front of me that was an additional 10 minutes' wait (and I was on a tight connection, so that ten minutes could have made the difference between catching my flight and not catching it!)

I didn't say anything - I just felt a bit annoyed that these people couldn't have got themselves better organised. Was my annoyance justified?

"I have to tell you again, Fred, this is a very important deal we are speaking about. It's a winner-takes-it-all arena. We must make sure we are up to scratch to see this going through, it is absolutely vital. And, of course, there are quite a few millions of Euros to be had as comm...wait a sec, I've got to pass through airport security.....(sound of coins and keys getting out of pocket)....OK so where were we... WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANNOT BE USING MY PHONE WHILE WALKING THROUGH THE METAL DETECTOR? IT'S MY PHONE AND I 'LL DO WHATEVER I LIKE WITH IT ....so you won't understand!!! Do You Know Who I Am?? I am one of Schiphol's best customers, if it weren't for me you'd probably be working over in the red light district! You're wasting my precious time and I have to be in the lounge so that I can get some work done. Okay, I will leave it here but I will not let this happen again...Excuse me for a minute, Fred, I have to comply with the moron's stupid orders."

Yes.

While it does not happen often in my experience, sometimes those who appear to be the MOST frequent flyers are the slowest things there are. They have absolutely no concern for how much they may be holding up production. They're simply too important to care about things like this when it applies to lesser beings.

Thankfully, they ARE in the minority. Most get the job done with a minimum of wasted motion.

There is nothing much you can do. Even when there are signs instructing passengers what to do, you still will have those people who just won't comply. To quote a former US President, "I feel your pain."

How about separating into 2 lines (at the point where we reach the screening machines); 1 line for the "ready" and the other for, well, the others? Really strictly enforced!

Seriously, though, I also try to be organized about this and not hold people up. A person with whom I frequently travel seems completely clueless; every trip through security is like the very first time. I've learned to go ahead so that I can collect the belongings of both of us while he's still ambling through the procedure. But I feel really bad about the folks behind us.

I'm ready for security in the United States. My laptop is easily accessible, my coins and phone are in the pockets of a jacket I have to take off anyway, my shoes are untied ...

But, I can't actually do anything until I reach that one little table just before the X-ray machine, and there already two people there trying to get their stuff into plastic bins also. I have a carry-on and a backpack, and I need three bins: one for my laptop (can't put anything else in that one); one for my jacket, belt (heavy metal buckle) and so on; and one for my shoes. The other two are similarly encumbered, perhaps with a purse as well.

No matter how much we know what is needed, no matter how prepared we are, there is simply no way we can do this efficiently in the space provided. If the TSA put two tables ahead of the screening machine, so we could get fully ready for screening before the person ahead of us passes through, it would speed things up greatly.

That said, the bottleneck more often than not is the X-ray screening itself. No amount of advance preparation will make that go faster, as it is driven by the speed of the X-ray operator. Faster preparation will just mean more standing around with cold feet and dirty socks.

I second this excellent observation.

In my experience, this is the major change in checkpoint throughput since September 14, 2001. Because the screeners are looking for dozens of innocuous items previously ignored by screeners, the bags are moving thru the x-ray machines very slowly.

Despite hearing constantly that the problem is primarily due to the "unprepared" traveler, more often than not, I disagree.

Of course, I have been behind some slowpokes who don't seem to know the drill. Nevertheless, the 30 to 45 seconds it takes them to disrobe and remove computer and divest change, phone, keys, etc. usually only allows the x-ray screener to catch up and free up some conveyor space for the slowpoke's carryons. But there are exceptions, especially at slow times when the slowpokes could act like they have someplace to go.

Most of the time when I approach the x-ray machine, there is a large backup of carryon bags from the pax ahead of me. I've had idiot pax and idiot screeners rudely tell me to proceed thru the WTMD, but I can't very well do that before I've placed all my carryons on the conveyor. On top of that, I refuse to proceed thru the WTMD until it is clear that all of my x-ray items are inside the x-ray tunnel.

At the snail's pace the x-ray operators tend to clear bags, it is obvious that we need 3 or 4 x-ray machines per WTMD. We have invested too heavily in WTMD (walking thru takes 5 seconds per pax at most) yet it usually takes the screeners 50-90 seconds to x-ray my bags to their satisfaction.

Agree 100% with the ideas expressed. But remember, the OP was in AMS, where they don't have the same idiocy with pointy pointy no no and shoe carnival. So in this instance it was probably just moron passengers.

There are indeed quite a few differences between US and European security procedures. In Europe we don't have to take our shoes off. We don't have to take our laptops out of our bags. And our carry-on limits are stricter so you won't normally get people carrying a rollerboard AND a backpack. I agree it's much more difficult to be ready at a US security checkpoint because there is so much more you have to do, and because a lot of people won't have a free hand until they reach the table before the x-ray machine.

The slow line in my original posting was at the newly-reintroduced checkpoint at D6, which is one of the gates where passengers board buses to take them out to commuter aircraft. D6 is primarily used for Cityhopper flights to the UK, and this was at 7 pm and a lot of the passengers seemed to be people returning from one-day business trips. The people causing the hold-ups were all Brits with briefcases...

Maybe I'm just imaginging things, but it seems to me that British passengers, and especially British men, seem to be the worst for having their pockets full of loose items... has anyone else made that observation?

I am going to enrage some people, but I am an adept of the so called "r�sistance passive". I take extra time while passing through security checks, I never prepare anything ahead of time and I actually enjoy people grumbling because they have to wait, especially if they are Americans (I am one too, by the way)

I have been traveling for over thirty years, I am going regularily through security checks since 1973 and I am all for security checks but I have had to put up with enough silly constraints (ban of nail scissors, nail files and now cigarette lighters) forced by stupidly paranoid American lawmakers.

Enough of the non-sense. As letters of protests are not working, I just hope that my type of resistance will aggravate people sufficiently until an avalanche of complaints will ensue. I am even looking forward to the times when air traffic will reach pre 9/11 levels. I will enjoy seeing people checking in at 7 AM for a flight at 3PM, thanks to security checks.

There is a thing called time management: I organize myself so as to be able to allow ample time for delays. But I will continue to take my time.

Having traveled quite extensively throughout the world, I find that TAS in the States is the start of madness! If I am traveling in warm weather, I always wear sandals, my backpack, my pocketless coat, very little jewelry, and I load all my stuff in one plastic basket. My time finally comes up at the xray machine, my basket has whipped thru the other machine, and my xray beep goes off. I can't see my basket, where is it??? The wand is brought out.... I have nothing on my person to ring off the wand, but I can't see my stuff! As they take their time "wanding" me...front and back, up and down.....do I fit their profile, I wonder....blond, blue eyes, tall, WASP, don't do drugs....what is wrong here? I tell them to hurry, I don't see my basket.....has it been stolen? They say to hold still, and I say I want my stuff! After they have finished playing with the wand, I bolt to the front....no plastic bucket! Naturally, I look for the REAL policeman with the GUN, and frantically tell him I can't find my plastic bucket. He slides off his stool, looks around, and asks what color was my bucket. All the buckets are dirty cream color, and my backpack is black, and my sandals are black. Where is it, I scream. Suddenly, I wake up from what is truly a nightmare!

The moral of the story is: keep your eye on your stuff because there is more theft at the security stations than anywhere else in the airport!

Well, besides hoping never to be behind magexpect , I find a lot of the biz folk who should know better still do the last-minute fumble. Efrem makes a good point, but I've seen a lot of biz folk (like the OP, I cut the rarely-travel folk a bit more slack) who really don't try to get ready in advance.

Of course my other pet peeve is you get the bizman at the gate who doesn't have his id out & then we all have to wait while he fumbles w/ pulling his wallet out. This is usually the one who's pushed by folk cuz he's in "F" (like he's the only one who is ). I understand if he's used to an airport that doesn't & is now at one that does, but given they pretty much all make regular announcements at the gate whether you do or not need to show your id, no excuse. And not to sound chauvenistic (sp?), but it usually is an older bizman, not woman. I've seen this happen at a lot of gates & I just want to whomp the guy upside the head & say 'moron'.

Cheers. Sharon

Another idea I thought of after SkiAdcock posted.......I don't have to fumble around for my ID as I wear a lanyard which holds my licence and other ID I might need while passing thru security. I have found that just having this thing hanging around my neck, the security hardly looks at you, and waves you right through......... No fuss, no muss!

You purposely slow down to aggravate other travellers according to your words above. Does that give you some kind of perverse pleasure? Travelling is stressful enough. Making life difficult for others in order to effect change? The ends don't justify the means no matter how laudable the ends are.

No perverse pleasure whatsoever, dear Analise, I have just noticed that one can reach results with protest and resistance. I wish there were more courageous people doing the same. I have seen tremendous results in Rome and in Paris where passengers protested so loudly and as they knew they had already missed connecting flights, started a snail pace action and within minutes there were sufficient agents to check the people with utmost efficiency.

I just wish to wake the same reactions in the US. Americans have become terrorized little kittens who don't dare anything. They just make their fists in their pockets and wait stoically. Despicable

I want the people to wake up, I want them to organize themselves and combat this madness that is going on at US airports. The ends justify the means in this case.

Air travellers could become a very strong lobby if we took a few minutes of our time to protest. With my action I am just trying for other passengers to stop standing stupidly, I want them to react.

By the way, everybody in the line knows of my actions because I never fail to tell them... and no one reacts... pathetic