Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Returned yesterday from my birthday cruise down the River Danube from Budapest to Passau. The cruise line booked my airline portion of the trip to and from Europe. Never again ... will book my own in the future as I had done previously. Flew from JFK in NYC to Belgium via Brussels Airline with a plane change in Brussels again on Brussels Airlines. After a long walk to the next terminal, had to go through passport control again. There was only an hour between flights and this cut into the time needed to get from one plane to the next but after a 15 minute wait we made it through and were back to walking to the proper gate.

Coming back to the US we were booked on Icelandic Airways from Munich to Iceland to JFK. Nice plane -- a 757. No meals served without charge and those offered were Cup of Noodles, a piece of cheese and crackers and nuts, a soggy sandwich (which the river cruise had ordered) of dubious chicken ? wilted lettuce, pink tomatoes and salad dressing on some dubious brown bread which was still 1/2 frozen. Offered a bottle of water for free. The only nice thing was the free movies. Watched that stupid movie "The Shape of Water" and a musical "The Greatest Showman". Land in Iceland. Disembarked not even on the tarmac but in some god forsaken area where you board buses to get to the terminal. No signs, no direction, finally found a monitor and our connecting flight was listed as being 38 minutes delayed. Walk, walk, walk. Crowded with rude and rushing people. Again have to go through passport control. I'm tagged.

Impolitely grabbed and physically escorted to a big room and given a number. Few minutes later, a man crooks a finger at me and beckons me to his small room and closes the door. Inside was the man and a female agent<?>. She grabs my three bags and throws them on a table and proceeds to open end them onto the table and paws through everything.Mister, impolite, motions for me to stand with my legs apart and arms out at shoulder height. Not one word spoken. Waves his magic wand over me and of course, I beep. I have a rod in my left arm from shoulder cup to elbow cup. I have breast cancer markers in both my breasts. I am wearing a hearing aid. He yells "take off your feet." I look at the idiot. "Take off your feet" and he points to my feet. I look him in the eye and said "You mean my shoes?" I take off my shoes and he indicates I am to pick them up. He wands them and motions for me to drop them. He then motions for me to lift each foot and he swabs them down. He lifts my pants legs and swabs my calves. He then swabs my hands, front and back and my lower arms.

He motions for me to put my shoes back on. The female throws things into the three bags helter skelter. Hey, there is $4,000 worth of hearing aid in that one bag alone. Be careful with it.

Looks again at my boarding pass and my passport, grabs my right arms and leads me to the outer door, hands me my documents and bags and motions for me to leave.

What the hell is that. I'm a grandmother, traveling with my daughters, I just celebrated my 70th birthday and this is how you treat people. Me? What the f* do you think I was?

Guess what Iceland and Icelandic Airlines. You will never see me on your airline or in your airport again. The flight was to leave at 6:30 and instead left at 8:00 which means we missed the third flight and had to book a room at the JFK airport hotel for the night.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Keflavik Airport is a shambles. Way too many people for the available facilities to cope with.

Keflavik Airport Customer Reviews | SKYTRAX

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

It is a shambles. There is no place for passengers to sit at the gate. Far too many people to process quickly especially when there are two flights bookended at the same gate. The first and last time for me.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

No alternative if you actually want to go to Iceland... like I will be doing next year :(

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

The cruise line probably got a nice kick back ($$$) for arranging the cheapest flights they could find for you. I book my own flights wherever possible, and direct with the airline, not an agency.

I guess Keflavik grew too fast to cope, what with the surge in cheapo airlines going there now. Talking of cheap, some are nervous about Norwegian now as they seem to be growing too fast, despite IMHO being fairly reasonable - not great, but then BA is crap as well.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Ah yes, they put in flights to the US in the same part of the airport, and they all leave within a couple of hours of each other. 4/5 planes worth of people, standing room only. Customs were dicks to me too, immigration took an hour to get through.

Iceland is really nice though, once you leave the airport.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

What prompted the search? Passport control or security?

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Wow, sorry you had such a bad experience Rete. We flew to Iceland a couple of years ago and our experience couldn't have been further from yours. The airport seemed empty, and our flight seemed to be the only people in the whole airport. I can't remember what security was like, which probably means it was fine. We were though flying to/from the UK so I can only presume it was a different part of the airport with different staff and procedures. Throughout our trip Icelandic folk were, without fail, polite and excellent speakers of english. Seems like you got a bad one.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

No clue, BIP

Similar to changing terminals as in Brussels, only instead of showing your passport and boarding pass as in Brussels, you had to scan the boarding pass and then I was taken away. The machine came up with a triangle and an exclamation point on it. I had gone through security without a hitch in Munich, never left that terminal at any point, boarded the plane and only left the plane in Iceland to board the bus to get to the airport building along with all the other passengers. So want prompted it? Only they know. More likely than not, it was random. I was number 10,546 that day.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Unfortunately it seems like more often than not, you'll get a bad experience at Keflavik Airport. As others have mentioned, the influx of travelers going to and from the U.S has meant they struggle with the additional numbers in that tiny airport. Just be thankful you didn't add WOW Air into your experience. They really make the trip just that extra bit more "special". But, if you want cheap flights then it looks like the only option to fly via Iceland, especially for myself flying from Pittsburgh to the UK.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

I'm not a penny pincher and never look for cheap flights but rather for flights on good airlines, such as KLM, with no or minimal plane changes. I didn't make these flight arrangements, Viking River Cruises did. I flew KLM the last time I went to Amsterdam and toured Amsterdam for the second time and Brussels and Paris. And then used them a second time for another European trip. Try getting from Mississippi to Europe ... it is an eye opener.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

New Orleans or Memphis to Europe is difficult?

BA (British Airways?) just flew them into LHR. Pretty good flight and service.

I had the same experience in Iceland about a year ago. Used to be a good airline.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

We flew Nola to JFK to Brussels to Budapest. No direct flights from Nola to Budapest. Again, the main point is the behavior exhibited at the airport in Iceland, not the flight(s).

Memphis is a mighty long drive from the gulf coast for a flight. Nola is 1-1/2 hour drive away. I have no urge to vacation in England so flying to LHR would just be a stopover to change planes to other European countries that I wish to visit, i.e. Portugal, Spain, or perhaps back to Eastern Europe to visit my grandparents homeland of Poland.

Icelandic is a good airline ... it is their airport that sucks.

My sister who was on the trip with us flew direct from Munich to Ft. Myers, Florida on Lufthansa ... which is an airLINE whose planes I like but whose personnel do not like Americans and are rude and obnoxious to Americans when they are passengers. Sis said it happened again on her homecoming flight. Stewardess refused to speak English or help her to get/pay for a movie onboard. Thankfully, another stewardess did assist her. We flew them 3 times when coming and going back and forth to Frankfurt to visit my Aunt in Karlshrue.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Everything to do with flying sucks ...... hate the experience every time I (have to) do it. It makes going on vacation a miserable experience.

Re: Border/Passport Control in Iceland and Belgium
 

Yep same for me. I also fly at least once/twice a month for work (usually from Denver to LAX) and I still hate the entire airport/flying process (bloody terrified of flying but obviously I do it as I don't have much choice!).