You can tell who the Americans are in foreign airports

[Bill McBlueState]

I'm waiting to fly out of Schiphol, and it's obvious when someone's from the US -- they gleefully remove their shoes in the security line, even though nobody has asked them to and nobody will. People reeeally buy into the security theatre, it seems.

Of course not all Americans do this, but enough do that it's kind of disappointing.

[flyarm]

1. yep!! in more ways that that!!..eom

[rucky]

2. We have the shoe bomber to thank for that one.

Thank god TSA didn't take the Underwear Bomber as seriously.

[Angry Dragon]

5. Yes they did......full body scanners

[crim son]

3. So, in a foreign airport

you can tell who is American because the Americans assume they have to remove their footwear for screening, and they do so. And? How is that disappointing? Are you disappointed when they remove them in an American airport, and would you prefer that they protest and be denied boarding?

I find your post rather odd.

[Bill McBlueState]

4. true, you don't get it

"Are you disappointed when they remove them in an American airport" -- of course not, it's a rule there.

[Hamlette]

6. used to be just the opposite

first airport security I was aware of was in European airports. I was not at all prepared for questions about "has your luggage been with you since you packed it" and gave this long story about the bell hop and the cab driver putting it in the trunk blah blah. We did none of that in the US. It was frightening.

[northzax]

7. Oh yes

I remember tanks on the runways at Heathrow, soldiers with Alsatians at De Gaulle, full battle gear soldiers everywhere else, from Berlin to Rome to Madrid. I remember the days of picking up your bag off the taac and carrying it to th plane before boarding. Meanwhile, as late as fifteen years ago, in college, we flew under names that weren't ours all the time. You bought a ticket from someone who couldn't use it, got on the plane and went.

[phylny]

8. And here I thought you were

going to say it's because we're all dressed like slobs ;)