Airport security in India is a perplexing combination of over-the-top and inexplicably lax. The first time I noticed something was different was when we had to put our baggage through an x-ray screener in order to exit the airport terminal upon arriving in India. I mean, if we’d had anything worth blowing up hopefully it would’ve been discovered before we got on the plane that we just got off of. But speaking of pre-flight security, get this: you can’t even step foot inside an airport terminal in India unless you are a ticketed passenger. If your tickets and boarding passes are approved by the security guys at the door and you actually make it inside, then you have to get in line to put your check-in bags through an x-ray machine. If they pass this test, you will have to tag your bags and get in the ticket counter line to check them in. At the ticket counter you will have to tag every carry-on item you have before you proceed to security and the gate. This is a vital step, as I discovered at the Chennai international airport when I almost missed my flight to Frankfurt because the ticket counter lady had neglected to give me tags for my carry-on bags. “Madam, they will not let you on the plane without tags,” the piqued security-line guy said to me. It was after 1am, my flight was already boarding and I was desperate to be on it. Finally, while I stood at the conveyer belt and sweated, he gave me substitute tags from some other airline and I made a run for the gate, where I simply waved my boarding pass under a scanner and got on the plane without a pair of human eyes ever looking at my bags. I had asked if there was a separate security-line for business class passengers, something which is quite common in the states. No, I was told, everyone must wait in the same line. Back I trudged to my place in the long line, which had been kindly held for me. Within minutes I noticed a couple who had been in the Business class check-in line with me earlier. They had walked up to the head of the security line just after me, and were now being let in ahead of everyone else, saving them about 15 minutes of waiting-time. I guess it depends on whom you ask and what kind of mood they’re in at the moment.

On one of several domestic airline trips I took within India, I counted nine times that my flight documents were checked by various security people between arriving at the airport and getting on the plane. First there was the entering-the-airport-terminal-check, then the x-raying-your-check-in bag-check. This was followed by the ticket-counter-check. Next, the entering-the-general-security-line-check, and then the women’s-separate-wanding-and-pat-down-line-check. There was the arriving-at-the-gate- check, and, within a few feet, the leaving-the-gate-for-the-shuttle-to-the-tarmac-check. Next was the walking-up-the-stairway-to-the-plane-check, and finally, there was the stepping- into-the-airplane -check. I was incredibly thankful that I had invested in one of those hang-around-your-neck travel document holders, making it much easier to produce the documents every couple of minutes while moving through the airport. As for that pat-down, after placing your bags onto the x-ray conveyer belt, every passenger proceeds either to the right or left to their gender-appropriate line to walk through the metal detector and get wanded/patted-down. This procedure was always done behind a screen by a woman for the women.

So, there’s all this seemingly extreme security on the one-hand, but in other ways security at Indian airports appears much more laid-back. I never saw anyone have to take off their shoes, place their separately bagged liquids and gels in a bin, or empty their bottle of water before going through security. On another domestic trip in India, at Madurai Airport I had already proceeded through a security checkpoint upstairs towards my gate when I found that my flight was delayed. I had time to kill and was hungry, so I went back downstairs and tentatively asked the security officer at the checkpoint if I could possibly buy some food from one of the airport vendors and bring it back upstairs. He waved me through as if to say, “of course, why do you ask?” I was relieved but also surprised, as you generally can’t move back and forth through a security checkpoint at a U.S. airport.

But perhaps most importantly, they actually serve food on Indian domestic flights, and it’s good!