No surprise - it is SO unpleasant traveling from a UK airport, as I found last summer on BA, Easyjet and others.

The security people are so brusque and rude, the delays so long, the experience so cramped and ghastly.

One lady had her handbag emptied (a handbag!) and was left to repack it herself.

Shoes still removed (none of this happens at foreign airports - France, Italy, Morocco, Germany - all perfectly civilized).

as Gore Vidal said (his father helped found the US airline industry)...they totally fucked air travel after 9/11 and made it the most unpleasant experience.

Certainly our airports are amongst the worst,but I too have had some bad experiences internationally.
The trouble is,we over do everything,while the others tend to use their commonsense.

JK2006 wrote:

One lady had her handbag emptied (a handbag!) and was left to repack it herself.

I once had all my luggage checked at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv. Every single item, down to the smallest tube of toothpaste was put through a scanner. The difference was that they repacked the lot for me, considerably better than my attempt at packing too. One of the guys even came to find me on a different floor to return a couple of CD's I had left behind. Can you imagine this happening at a British airport? The people are treated with complete disrespect by anyone in a position of authority in this country. This is one of the biggest problems with the UK.

Experience A: Roma Fiumicino Airport:
Security checks Outgoing; Rigorous but quick. Conducted by staff who looked like they belong on a catwalk and are quick to get you on your way.
Passport Control Incoming; Sensible, passports "observed" and no real queue.

Experience B: Leeds Bradford Airport:
Security checks Outgoing; Laboured, painful and conducted by staff who clearly believe they are dealing with terrorists who need to be delayed or they will firebomb the bogs. None of them would look out of place in a photograph of 1930's Germany.
Passport control Incoming; Everyone has their passports scrutinised and scanned. Massive queues. Lots of ill temper. On both sides. These people aren't simply doing their jobs. They're loving it. And they appear to believe that every passport presented to them has either been stolen or forged in the bogs on the plane.

Love going on holiday. Dislike flying. Dislike the security checks. Hate UK Passport Control.

Oh, for the good old days when public servants were public servants. Someone please stop me, I could go on for hours...

St Petersburgh's cramped old airport is the worst I've been to. The queues start from outside the terminal. You (shoes off) and your luggage are checked before you go into the check-in, long queues through immigration, and then again checked (shoes off again) before you go through to the gate.