[pandem]

Maybe that's how it works in America, but it doesn't mean it's the same everywhere. And given that the post was motivated by recent events in Europe it doesn't seem too relevant.

In Europe when you go through security no one checks your id. In fact most of the time when you fly inside Schengen with hand luggage only no one checks your id at all. But there definitely isn't something comparable to TSA that would have the information.

[djxfade]

The last few years I have been flying, my ID has been checked before entering the security check. This was a recent change introduced a few years ago. I presume this is done everywhere in Europe.

[DyslexicAtheist]

same experience here and I'm also all over Europe. The time when you could just fly without hassle only lasted a few years. Now I have to look into the empty eyes of some dweeb wanting to check my passport like I'm entering Beirut in 1982. I feel obliged to thank them out of artificial politeness but really want to just ask them why they had to get a job that allows them to display power. Not that these checks ever prevented a "terrorist" attack. Airports only catch small drug mules that could have taken a bus anyway.

Freedom of movement was one of the major selling points for joining the EU to the unwashed middle classes. That has all gone to the dogs (at least for business travel). The only advantage of free movement that still exists is being able to live and work in other countries.

It's typical when they do something in the name of "sEcURitY" they will never roll it back. Classic "salami tactic" and a slow encroachment by the system[1]. Opinions on this obviously vary depending if a person uses a uniform for work in order to compartmentalize their conscience, has to defend family working for the security apparatus, or peddles crappy/racist "AI based" biometric software to the system. Perhaps wanting to become a "person of authority" is like a gender thing which people have no choice over. So I shouldn't make fun or look down at them: ACAB ("Assigned Cop At Birth").

Also the worst of all countries has doubtlessly been the UK. Even you arrived coming from Europe, they shepherded you through the slow-lane like a smelly goat with noises that sound like Dick Van Dyke doing a Bricktop impression.

[1] https://archive.org/details/JacquesEllulTheTechnologicalSoci...

[jamesrr39]

Also in Europe, but with a completely different experience; it is (well, was, pre-covid) easy to move between EU states.

Within the Schengen Zone it's only the check at the gate to check your ID matches your boarding pass (so no check at "immigration"), and to/from the UK the electronic gates have really sped things up (compared to the old days).

YMMV but I find I'm rarely waiting more than a few minutes at the immigration checks (to/from UK) nowadays.

[Scoundreller]

Tell that to France. They still do passport checks on flights coming in from Schengen countries.

Especially stupid since I’ll be flying into southern France from neighbouring Brussels or Frankfurt. Like, if I’m up to no good, I could drive into France more quickly.

They’re allowed to do it “temporarily”, so they just renew their exemption year after year.

[DyslexicAtheist]

interesting. this seems to indicate that Schengen countries decided on a national level if they wanted to do checks on their borders. I have seen hard passport checks within Schengen in Croatia, Sweden, Germany, France and Portugal.

Good to hear the UK has improved. I should have mentioned I haven't been there since 2018. I was expecting that brexit made things worse and had no idea

[Kbelicius]

Croatia is not part of Schengen so there shouldn't be any surprise about them doing the hard checks. They are hoping to enter this year.

[StavrosK]

Greece doesn't check ID at the airport either, beyond matching your boarding pass to your name.

[iso1631]

Brexit didn't really kick in until January this year, and covid impact masks any brexit impact

[ryanlol]

This really doesn’t add up. Who was performing these hard passport checks? An airline employee? Where was your flight originating from/going to?

[Scoundreller]

France does them. Can confirm on flights from Brussels and Frankfurt.

Allowed “Temporarily” under “extenuating” circumstances and “only as a last resort”, so they renew it every year and have provided zero proof of its effectiveness. It’s just theatre.

If they applied it to road traffic too, then, okay, fine at the airport too. But checking passports of people coming in from a neighbouring country by air only is beyond stupid.

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/border...

Extra do-nothing jobs at Toulouse airport that receives few non-Schengen flights.

[DyslexicAtheist]

it was done by a customs official. long queue and everyone on the plane had to do it every time that I was there. I've never entered the UK without having to go through this.

Dublin -> Heathrow

Frankfurt -> Heathrow

Stockholm -> Heathrow

... and as I said I have seen similar things arriving in Frankfurt (in 2017 and 2018) and other places (Dublin -> Zagreb etc)

[vkou]

If you think some dweeb checking your ID is a serious impediment to freedom of movement, I invite you to do a few dozen border crossings outside the EU.

The ID requirement to fly is not great, but it is nothing like actual border controls.

[DyslexicAtheist]

that is only true if you compare EU to Overtheristan but not to how free movement was sold to EU voters. My comparison is based on what people voted for which was much closer to the concept of a US citizen taking a domestic flight.

[philwelch]

US citizens taking domestic flights have to show ID.

[DyslexicAtheist]

I did not know that. Some websites claim US nationals do not need a passport to travel domestically https://www.skyscanner.com/tips-and-inspiration/editorial/pa...

and while in 2021 europa.eu website says EU nationals do not need a passport to travel within Schengen this has already been not true before covid. Arrive at FRA or MUC or CDG and you will end up having to show your passport either at a manned booth or a machine (but the concept is no different: there is a queue and your name/geolocation entering the system ... actually even worse with the machine when they capture your biometrics)

[tinus_hn]

Someone is checking your passport so they know it’s the person who is on the ticket. It’s not a conspiracy to collect ids because the government already has all the information on the ID and you had to identify yourself to buy the ticket.

The difference due to the Schengen Agreement is that on landing you can just pick up your luggage and go, there is no border patrol checking your belongings.

[ryanlol]

> Also the worst of all countries has doubtlessly been the UK

UK is pay to play, for a reasonable amount (600GBP at LGW and ~1k at LHR IIRC) of money you can be the first to exit your plane and be taken through the private jet terminal without any queues. You wait in a nice lounge where a Border Force person takes you through the formalities while you sit in a comfy armchair.

[Tsiklon]

If you take an international railway journey in the EU it’s very civilised indeed, just rock up to the station, scan your ticket through to the platform and away you go.

I’ve experienced this taking the Thalys to Brussels from Amsterdam, to catch an onward connection to London.

[ryanlol]

I fly around europe on almost a weekly basis to and from a wide variety of airports. My ID has never been checked before security.

I think maybe you’re confusing the checkin where you might show your passport with an ID check? You can completely bypass this by checking in online, and the airline doesn’t actually inspect your ID anyway.

[tluyben2]

I frequent a airports in the eu where they do and where they don't: seems to depend on the country and maybe the airport. The number of places where it happens went up.

[midasuni]

Haven’t flown since covid, but from 2019 flights, Not in U.K. (ID only checked at gate - intl flights only) and Not in 3 schengen airports (ID only checked after security when leaving schengen area)

Don’t recall other airports enough but I didn’t do domestic flights. Nairobi I feel had more ID checks but could be wrong.

[benhurmarcel]

It depends on the airline and airport. For example Lufthansa typically doesn't check IDs.

[hef19898]

True, nobody is even checking your ID at all gor domestic flights. I had one business trip in Germany, including two flights, i did without my valet, and thus without any piece of ID. The eTicket was enough.

[hungryforcodes]

I've traveled all over Asia and the above procedure is how they do it everywhere.