Reopening Brussels Airport after the 22/03/2016 terror attacks

[Conti764]

Oranges and apples...

[teach]

Terrorists are hardly ever blonde though

and facial hair is more prevalent than among the general public

Not really. Have you seen how many western guys have stubbles or full beards these days? And just because some had a beard in those pictures, that doesn't mean they had them at the time of the attacks.

[Jetter]

Hence I said 'hardly ever' and not 'never'.

and facial hair is more prevalent than among the general public

Not really. Have you seen how many western guys have stubbles or full beards these days? And just because some had a beard in those pictures, that doesn't mean they had them at the time of the attacks.

All true. But the anecdotal evidence of BRU supports my argument with a 66% score:

[Flanker2]

Can someone tell me here why there is not any pre-screening in every subway station in Brussels?

I already answered that. The reason is because it would be cheaper to close down the metro instead.
The low ticket budget can't cover the cost of the security check.

Not the case at BRU where 30 Euro's are paid by each pax and the cost of the precheck per pax is much lower due to higher density of pax going through the gates. That's enough budget to cover such a check and it's hence justified.

Plus
Another boom in the metro, life goes on except for the few directly affected.
Another boom in BRU, 1% increase in unemployment rate in Belgium, if not more through the media-effect.

I think that profiling is acceptable as it reduces the number of unnecessarily checked people and the cost also for BRU. It's a good compromise between cost and safety.
I don't care if it's racial, by age, sex or whatever. I don't care if they chose that I'm a risk profile and have to go through the check while others don't, because with the current checks I would have to go through it anyway, with the only difference that I would have to stand outside longer because BRU wants to save money.

The pre-checks have to stay though and the queues outside must disappear.

[ezis_bis]

Lapsed
Is this an aviation forum or a political game place?

[luchtzak]

Indeed, can we please return back to our usual discussions ?

[convair]

The pre-checks have to stay though and the queues outside must disappear.

But only for BRU of course! I haven't seen any of the diehard supporters of these (imho stupid, inefficient and dangerous) pre-checks call for them at FRA, AMS, CDG, JFK, ORD etc...
I assume you never use these airports then...

[Flanker2]

But only for BRU of course! I haven't seen any of the diehard supporters of these (imho stupid, inefficient and dangerous) pre-checks call for them at FRA, AMS, CDG, JFK, ORD etc...

1. You seem to forget the most essential element and that is that ISIS HQ is just down the road from BRU.
2. BRU has already been hit once. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
3. Another attack on BRU will put Belgium in shame, aircraft will fly empty until the airlines and hotels are no more, it will be years before the economy can recover.
4. Major airports in other countries should IMO adopt similar screenings if there is a credible threat that they might get hit. I think that major UK, French and German airports are in a credible threat situation and should hence start pre-screening. I walked fast through CDG connecting from the TGV just days after the BRU attacks. However, this is a Belgian forum, so we discuss Belgian airports.
5. Terrorism benefits from the media marketing as part of deploying its propaganda. High-level targets like BRU are hence more at risk than the Belgian regional airports, though CRL while much less likely to be hit, is big enough to have a major impact, so should have pre-screenings imo. Pre-screening at ANR, LGG or OST is a waste of resources.

[thalenoi]

I am not a frequent flyer but BRU is my secondary main hub, UTH is my home base.
I have a September BRU-LHR-YUL return booked and a BRU-BKK for late may.
For the remaining part of 2016 I booked BKK-AMS-BKK-AMS-BKK.
Although my Belgian safe house is only 25kms from BRU I will not book any more BRU flights as long as these bloody tents are in the way. Fairly easy to book flights from BKK to DUS, AMS or CDG.
And no, I don't mind profiling at all, but without the idiot pre-check, I passed through Ben Gurion several times.
OK, now I need to book some UTH-BKK return trips at 33 euro return...

[teach]

And no, I don't mind profiling at all, but without the idiot pre-check, I passed through Ben Gurion several times.

And that's the crux of it all: the people like Flanker2 who continue to defend and call for this idiotic 'pre-checks for everyone' nonsense completely and repeatedly ignore that even the Israelis, widely accepted to be THE specialists in fighting terrorism, DO NOT do these checks at TLV.

But hey, they're only THE absolute authority in this field, what do they know?

[barnabelg]

even the Israelis, widely accepted to be THE specialists in fighting terrorism, DO NOT do these checks at TLV.

To be fair, you do get "checked" (profiled) before you enter TLV. All road traffic gets stopped at the airport's perimeter. And train passengers go through a metal detector at their starting point (where there is a check for all train passengers, even those not travelling to the airport). But it is true that for people arriving by car, taxi, bus there is no systematic metal detector / X-ray check.

[tsx]

But only for BRU of course! I haven't seen any of the diehard supporters of these (imho stupid, inefficient and dangerous) pre-checks call for them at FRA, AMS, CDG, JFK, ORD etc...

1. You seem to forget the most essential element and that is that ISIS HQ is just down the road from BRU.
2. BRU has already been hit once. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but ISIS HQ is in Raqqa, which is in Syria. A long road from BRU ...

... but not from BEY : was there end of November last year and no pre-check, no security theater.
Just a check point on the road leading to the airport. Basically the same security as in TLV, just much smaller operations.

When was the last time either airport was hit by a terrorist attack (excluding wars) ?

[Kris]

Just my thoughts: I'm afraid that, as long as this pre-check will continue, passenger numbers will suffer. There is the fact that you will loose extra time ( more limited now ) and I'm not sure that all people want to fly in or out a semi warzone. BRU is the only airport in Western Europe doing this, and with a lot of airports not too far away, it will hurt them ( and the airlines ) I'm afraid.

[Boeing767copilot]

And meanwhile:

http://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/mobiliteit/396 ... s-zaventem

[webstermc]

And meanwhile:

http://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/mobiliteit/396 ... s-zaventem

sounds only logic to me. Airport was still closed some days in April. And for a whole time only at 60% of capacity. Travellers need to depart from somewhere.

I don't expect this to go away the next month, but now with the new security measures, there is (almost) no waiting line today. As this continuous like this (and no more news reports about long waiting lines), I hope these people will come back to BRU within the next months

[Jetter]

Even the head of the National Bank is calling to use AMS instead of BRU because of the prechecks http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/32616/Terreurd ... rdam.dhtml

[webstermc]

Even the head of the National Bank is calling to use AMS instead of BRU because of the prechecks http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/32616/Terreurd ... rdam.dhtml

she already regrets having tweeted this.

[Apuneger]

In the meantime Brussels Airport has updated its travel advice:

*New travel advice*

We advise travellers to be at the airport:

- 2 hours in advance for Schengen flights
- 3 hours in advance for non-Schengen flights

Enjoy your stay at the airport and enjoy your flight!

https://www.facebook.com/Brusselsairpor ... 15182832:0

Best regards,
Ivan

[barnabelg]

We advise travellers to be at the airport:

- 2 hours in advance for Schengen flights
- 3 hours in advance for non-Schengen flights

Isn't this the same as what BRU "advised" before the attacks? Only, back then there was no need to follow it; I always aimed at being at the airport 1 hour to 45 minutes before departure (for Schengen flights). Not sure if I would risk that now...

[teach]

Isn't this the same as what BRU "advised" before the attacks? Only, back then there was no need to follow it; I always aimed at being at the airport 1 hour to 45 minutes before departure (for Schengen flights). Not sure if I would risk that now...

From what we're hearing, there currently are no more lines at the pre-check. This morning, there was however a huge crowd and lots of long lines inside the terminal, because everyone had come way too early (3 hours in advance), found themselves inside the terminal in a few minutes, to then discover check-in for their flight hadn't opened yet because they were too early. But that's a problem that will quickly solve itself once the word gets out that there's no need to be at the airport that early anymore.

Now the next thing they need to start working on is restoring the Kiss & Fly. Dropping passengers off in the parking towers can not be a permanent solution.