The Hassle of Transit Procedures

by Mario
(SFO USA)

Arriving into Changi International Airport Terminal 3 was a delightful experience.

Upon exiting SQ1 plane after a 14 hours flight from San Francisco, you can easily sense you are in a safe country one that is so clean and well run. You see this beautiful airport and you know immediately you don't want to be in other airports in the region.

Contrasting that with our experience on our departure from Singapore with an hour layover in Hong Kong Airport, it was a newer airport alright that has retained the same Kai Tak proedures.

Exiting from SQ to Hong Kong transit terminal was the most annoying experience I've had. We needed to go through body search, X-Rays and carry-on luggage inspection.

I would have appreciated the procedure if we were checking in the terminal. But from an airplane going to the transit terminal and back to the same plane for the onward leg of the trip, I thought the additional security hassles were the most ridiculous procedure put in place by Hong Kong's airport management.

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The Hassle of Transit Procedures

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Nov 02, 2009

Air Travel Never the Same Again After 911
by: Gabriel Tan

Hi Mario

I can understand how you felt about the extra checks during transit.

Once on transit, a security officer even squirted the stuff out from my tube of toothpaste. At an airport that shall remain nameless here.

But I can understand the rationale behind all these actions. Looking at it from another angle, the procedures actually give passengers peace of mind: the airport is serious about security.

Singapore Airport has the same security checks for transit passengers as well. So it seems that this is now standard practice in most airports around the world.

Air travel has never been the same again since September 11, 2001. Sigh.

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