I've stopped flying in the US simply because I can't go through the line without being molested in some way. It's only in the US.
No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or do anything more than a standard leg pat down (if they do one at all. Most places just make you turn your pockets inside out).
The TSA is absolutely beyond horrible and Americans have just stopped fighting them and accept this as the new normal. You can get past it if you pay the extortion price for pre-flight checks and have them finger print and background check you.
Tangentially related, but I normally wear boots and I'm asked to take them off every time I fly inside EU. But that's the worst what can happen, have never been ordered to unlock my devices or asked personal questions.
> No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or do anything more than a standard leg pat down
False. At least when flying from Schiphol (Amsterdam) you'll be taking off your shoes and you'll go through an X-ray. Not sure about other airports but it wouldn't surprise me if this was a European thing instead of just a Dutch thing - I can't recall if they required it in Spain as well.
This is factually incorrect. I fly through Schiphol 10+ times a year and never had to take off my shoes. Neither did I in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, London, Copenhagen, so "it's not a European thing" either.
I did see officers asking specific individuals to take off their shoes, with a specific justification: when either the shoes obviously contain metal, or the individuals go through the X ray machine and it complains and there is no obvious other metallic item.
No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or do anything more than a standard leg pat down (if they do one at all. Most places just make you turn your pockets inside out).
The TSA is absolutely beyond horrible and Americans have just stopped fighting them and accept this as the new normal. You can get past it if you pay the extortion price for pre-flight checks and have them finger print and background check you.