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Airport Security

Why do we have three different security checks at the Kuwait Airport? You have the baggage security check before the check-in counters, you then have one before the emigration counters and finally a third one before entering your departure gate. Can’t they all be combined into one proper security check like most airports? I think at least the one before the check-in counter should be scrapped since in the summer at peak travel season the lines it generates is just ridiculous. From the three security checks that one is the least strict.

59 replies on “Airport Security”

My favorite topic – The Kuwait Airport!

Precisely, 100% agree – ditch the one entering the boarding gate, because you have already gone through the one at immigration and check-in. Let’s take a good airport – Singapore Airport – I only go through security check prior to immigration. Let’s take Bangkok Airport – I only go through a security check prior to immigration, BUT let’s take Bali airport I go through 4 check points even one as I’m walking down the gateway to board my flight – and that’s over kill, but they apparently have drug dealers working in the airport. But KA would create much needed space for check-in if they limited the number of xray machines which are old and can’t detect much anyway, hence, they also need to BUY more sophisicated xray machines like Dubai and Dubai ditched the ones prior to check-in at Terminal 1 I noticed.

P.S. Did they ever open up the boarding gates that they decided to renovate right before the summer peak season – brilliant!

Also, loose some of the retail space, you would have more room for check-in desks?#$# Do you want another mall or an airport, Kuwait?

My bad, no I did go through a security check at the boarding gate in Singapore Airport, I forgot and in Bangkok, so most airports do that, so maybe they should loose the one before immigration, that is the most archaic one and possibly at the boarding gates, but KA probably has no ‘behind the scenes’ screening.

have you noticed that ANYTHING can happen between those checks?

1. from check-in to passport control, you mingle with a LOT of people
2. from passport control to departure, same as #1, add the airport employees to the mix.

the physical lay-out of the airport calls for such checkpoints

It’s definitely an inconvenience but it’s there for a reason.

Three checkpoints basically secure three different locations, since the airport is well, huge, there is a possibility to have someone slipping something for a passenger (an inside job!) holy crap that sounds like an awesome movie.

Forgot what I was going to say, so yeah. Inside Man movie, here I come.

Lol @ the guy who said the Airport is huge. Sorry bro, maybe average, not even big.
The reason I can think of for nor having an organised security check is because of bad design. The airport is simply designed more like a mall than an Airport.
Also if you are travelling by KLM or Jazeera, you can walk all the way past Debenhams before you have any screening done to your luggage. By this time you are well in the center of the Airport building. Ideally all baggage screening should be done as soon as the passenger enters the Airport and a second screening when you are about to board the Flight. The idea behind the check should not be just about what you could carry into the flight, but also what you could carry into the Airport. But honestly I dont mind all the extra checks, given how people here pull knives in malls. I am honestly more irked by the infamous ‘trolley mafia’.

trolley mafia – so so true. They wreck the holiday mood every damn time I travel… always ending up in some argument or the other.
It is organized loot indeed.

They asked money from me, but i denied, and said its freee insideso pls step aside or i will call your superiors, and i said this with a kind of scolding

Newest scam of the day by the trolley mafia: They are hiding the carts or not bringing them from outside, so that people will use the big carts, hence a bigger tip. But all those big carts fill up the tiny space where the carrisols are so it is hard to get through this mess to get your luggage. I refuse to use them – I went somewhere off and found a cart last night.

The only reason they have the baggage check before the check in is to help these trolley mafia!!

Yeah, it’s not big at all. I mean, you’re right, if you compare it to other airports, it’s a dot.

Unfortunately I was born a human, not a building. To me, a human, the place is huge.

They got deported because of traffic fines. Wait, sorry wrong post. I just got used to saying that now for every question.

It figures since most of the time the guys on monitors are busy chatting with one another so 3 check point are needed to increase the chances one might catch something extremely “dangerous” like a bottle of perfume !

I think the one before the immigration is useless, they and remove it. Seems its basically for the airliners to see if any passengers is having over weight hand baggages, as there is the weighting meter.

Honestly Kuwait airport is on the the fastest in/out airports i have been to.

I actually like it. And they have starbucks AND caribou……..don’t hate!

On my last flight, the guy sitting next to me was saying that they closed the road into the airport and he was late for his flight. Luckily EK let him board at the last minute. This is smooth? How can they close the road to the airport? That reminds me the time this airline boarded me with someone elses boarding card because they gave my seat to a Kuwaiti and nobody got it until I reached Singapore. Hmmmmm. Last year Bahrain was complaining to Kuwait in the press that too many people were showing up with large knives in their luggage and they were fed up. They told Kuwait that is passengers continue to show up at their airport like this, they were going to send them back, hence the three check points didn’t work in these cases.

Lebanon’s airport road is great because there are no emergency lanes so if there’s an accident it literally blocks the entire road

Loll, I remember the last time I was going thru check in, it was a giant snake fest of lines, round and round at least three times. It was a nightmare.

Security cannot be ditched because the airport is not well designed. Passengers arriving mingle with passengers departing before boarding their planes. This is a major flaw as things can be passed between passengers. Therefore, it is necessary to have another security check at the entry of each gate !

Because the Kuwaiti constitution guarantees citizens a job in the public sector. And the MOI is one of the biggest employers in the country leading to massive inefficiencies and the increasing creation of security checkpoints to facilitate said jobs.

Just like Beirut’s airport except that the attitude of the immigration officers in Beirut sucks big time! Along with the beggers who always ask for more money after tipping them for carrying your bag.

Lebanons airport really isn’t the best example to follow. Other than the decent business class lounge Lebanons airport is as bad as Kuwait. I actually prefer kuwait cuz at least we have Starbucks and Pinkberry here.

Decent business lounge at Beirut airport?! Only if you compare it to the DISMAL lounges at Kuwait Airport, otherwise it’s gloomy and has lots of wasted space.. I much prefer hanging out at SALT, and the food is pretty good there

1) Security check before check-in counters: Most passengers flying out of Kuwait travel with checked baggage which goes directly to the airplane post the check-in counters. So this becomes the only point where checked baggages can be screened. Cant ditch that.

2) Security check before immigration: Right after checking in and getting boarding passes hardly any passenger walks directly to immigration. They can even go home and come back if time allows. So cant ditch that security check as well.

3) Security check before boarding: Least required in my opinion as there is no way a passenger can come out and go in again without crossing the check before the immigration. Guess this is purely installed to screen for any illegal items passed on the any passengers by the airport staff.

Dulles International Airport outside of Washington DC. ONE security checkpoint. Get on a train. Go to a secondary terminal/mall. Walk half a mile to get to the gate.

And – once you are past the ONE security checkpoint, you can buy water and bring it on the plane with you (unlike boarding a United flight here – I don’t know if other airlines allow liquid bought in the airport or not). You’re coming out of one of the hottest spots on Earth and you can’t bring water on the plane with you (and, of course, while you can purchase alcohol on the plane, you can’t purchase water! rrrr).

I hate to seem down on Kuwait’s airport (similar in size to a district/regional airport in the US – not even a state airport), but from what I’ve seen in my experience over the years; maybe it has something to do with the complacency of the security checkers (?) Maybe they think that if one checker doesn’t catch something, it will get caught at the next point (?) I’ve been through the metal detectors many many times and the alarms have gone off. Dudes just wave me through.

I was just at Dulles and I’d rather take 5 checks at 1 min than waiting for over an hour for almost getting naked security check

” maybe it has something to do with the complacency of the security checkers (?) ”

Bingo!! Doesn’t really matter how many or how few security checkpoints you have if the personnel manning those checkpoints are as lazy and unconcerned as the one’s at KWI. They don’t even watch the monitors as your stuff passes the scanner. Worst airport security I’ve seen yet.

Forget the security checks and all that. Tell me one good reason why the sole international airport in a oil rich nation like Kuwait cannot afford new conveyor belts for the baggage at the check in desks? Half the time I go to the airport, those conveyor belts are broken and all the check in counters are frozen till they can get it working again.

i think last security check is from the airways itself. sometimes the international airways are not satisfied with the airport security checks. v cannot blame them also coz if something happens they r the ones who r going to loose.

All security checks are by the DGCA or whoever is responsible for the airport. United Airlines is the only flight who have additional security for taking swab tests of passengers luggage. Not sure if it is still done, this was about a year or 2 ago.

and none of the three check points actually paying attention , the officers are either texting or chatting with each other.

As for kuwait airport building, i actually love it. i mean i landed from beirut at 7:15 im in avenues at 7:45 nothing beats that

Yes, JFK is just one. But as some posters have pointed out, there is no co-mingling of people and luggage after that check. There is also no outgoing passport control in the US.

Actually each serves a purpose
The first is to make sure you don’t have a bomb in your bag.
The second prevents not authorized people getting to passport area and since people can get into the airport from arrivals and bypass the first check the second one serves as a check to make sure you don’t get things to the plane that is not allowed by the police.
The last one is needed cause its there at the request of the airlines to make sure you don’t have liquids and actually hold a visa to where you are going and are the person on the boarding pass.

In the states they don’t have the 3rd X-ray we have … If you buy it in the airport then you can put it on the plane. And the first X-ray was moved behind the scenes since they have the right to open / break your bag if they see anything without getting back to you.

An airport architect explained to me that KA is, in fact, a design for a domestic airport, not an international airport. Among the key aspects he pointed out was the mingling of arrivals and departure areas and the fact that arrivals immigration shares the area with baggage claim. These are things that should not happen in an international airport where travelers are technically crossing a border.

He pointed out several other things but this was a long time ago and I was not paying much attention and taking notes to post on 248am.

It may be that KA security has had to be cobbled together to make an airport designed for domestic flights function for international flights. Hence the fragmentation / repetition?

Very intelligent comment! Also, not sure if they bridged a conversation about the air traffic controller area of this airport that is highly dangerous because it is so outdated. I share great contention with many aspects of this airport, and I see this airport as remaining functional if the Kuwaitis get their head out of the sand and begin construction of a new airport which is sorely needed. But what he outrageous with the management of this airport is the lack of planning, some problems could be easily solved, do they not see what I see or are they just complacent with the status quo? They have made little changes to the airport in the last month, but it is not enough, especially in arrivals. They added TV’s to the carrisols, does that stop the old carrisols from breaking down because you need to buy new ones? They added a TV, all these TV’s are sold for advertising purposes in the immigration area, does this solve the long lines, the confusion of the sub-continent workers, the chaos with the new visa holders, NO. So I encourage them to hire consultants, preferrably foreign consultants to assist them with security and logistics. And for GOD’s SAKE give the Emirites a call and ask them how to implement E-GATE!!!!!!!

The current airport really isn’t designed for the amount of flights it gets, but every time they try to build a new one an issue comes up. They should just have someone privately build a new one :/

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