I had forgotten to remove my Swiss army knife from my carry-on once in the US and it wasn’t detected until my flight back. Can’t do anything with that, but considering the scrutiny under which they check toothpaste, I was surprised.

I do think that passport control in some countries is very slack. In the UK, they actually take your passport and look at it, in alot of countries I have visited lately you just stick up your passport and walk by.

I’ve walked in and out of the “passport-controlled” check-in section at Jakarta’s international airport on numerous occasions without being x-rayed, nor even being asked to show a ticket — nor passport. On one occasion I went through with my baby in a capsule but as it set the alarm off they just let me pass it around and didn’t search it. I was later allowed to leave with the baby and capsule — at no stage was I asked to show ID nor a ticket (we were seeing off my wife). I’ve been able to board domestic flights within Indonesia without showing any ID at all and very recently, boarded a flight in KL and flew to Cambodia without a boarding pass (I had lost the pass). Around a year ago at Bangkok’s new airport, I boarded the wrong aircraft (same airline, different destination — it had been a long day) and it wasn’t discovered till they did a headcount and found out they had one too many passengers — they didn’t consider it to be a big deal as I didn’t have any checked luggage, but suggested I pay a bit more attention to where I was, which was fair enough — and I still made the flight I was supposed to be on! All this in stark contrast to Australia where they do everything short of ask you for a chromosome count before letting you into the aircraft.

I’ve no idea how someone could mistake a bus pass for a passport.

When I flew back from Geneva earlier this year I forgot to remove liquids from my hand luggage - they didn’t seem to notice/care.

When I got to passport control at Gatwick I got quizzed! Where have you come from? How long were you there? and my absolute favourite…. what is the purpose of your visit? I politely pointed out it was a Birtish Passport and that I’ve lived in the country for my entire life!

and compare this to the Government plans to question us on 53 different matters… how bizarre.

Simon, you made me chuckle although it probably wasn’t funny to you at that time.

I found it amusing actually - just shows how barmy things are getting now!

In Jakarta, yes we’ve had a few — more recent “big ticket” ones include the Australian Embassy (2004) JW Marriott (2003), KFC at the airport (2003) — all in Jakarta, and of course the Bali bombings of 2002 & 2005.

My experience is the complete opposite. It seems that whenever I am lining up to check in or board the flight I always get pulled aside for a “random” spot check and get searched. I must look a bit dodgy or something?!

Darren, they are interviewing yes, but that’s when you apply, not when going through customs!