Jet Airways in Nepal

bobblebob

Been to Nepal a few times via Jet. Heathrow to Delhi then comnection to Kathmandu. At Heathrow and Delhi you board as normal. However at Kathmandu airport you get frisk searched and hand luggage checked 4 times before the boarding gate. Then on the tarmac Jet Airways frisk you and do a quick hand luggage search

Never known an airline do this at all let alone on the tarmac and Jet dont do this at other airports. So dont they trust Nepalese security staff?

PompeyPete

What were they looking for?

bap98189

We just came back from Nepal, and I suspect the answer to your question is that no, they don't trust Nepalese security. Going through Kathmandu airport it is rather obvious that despite the numerous x-ray machines, security is hardly up to western standards. The domestic terminal in particular is laughable. When we people were just walking through the scanner, it was beeping and nobody was being stopped because the security guy was on the phone.

bobblebob

No idea what they were looking for. The check was pointless anyway as all they do is look in the top of the bag.

Voyager2002

Air France sometimes do this in Benin (West Africa).

In the case of Jet, it could also be political: Jet is an Indian company, and there is a difficult relationship between India and Nepal.

eDicky

I've never flown out of KTM with Jet Airways, but there's always a final "security" check at the boarding gate for any airline, in my experience. Sometimes this is outside the doors, on the tarmac.

I usually buy one of the cheap Chinese lighters that has a little flashlight in it, but surprisingly once it was spotted in my hand luggage on the X-ray and ceremoniously confiscated. So now I just stick it in my sock before going through the scanner...

bobblebob

Ive never been checked at the boarding gate other than Nepal. After normal hand luggage security thats it.

KTM airport is crazy. You get frisked and scanned as you arrive in the airport, then at the standard security. Then again at the boarding gate and then again by the airline. 4-5 checks in total

Shimrod

I had this happen a few years ago flying back from Nairobi. Two checks of hand luggage, and then a final check before we boarded the plane.

Flying from Kathmandu to Lhasa, we had a final full security check (with metal detectors) and frisk on the tarmac before boarding the plane, as well as having to identify our hold luggage before it was loaded onto the plane.

bap98189

bobblebob wrote: »

KTM airport is crazy. You get frisked and scanned as you arrive in the airport, then at the standard security. Then again at the boarding gate and then again by the airline. 4-5 checks in total

Not surprising if you consider the country's recent history of civil war and almost the entire royal family being assassinated.

Add in the importance of tourism (it accounts for almost 20% of their GDP) and you can see why they go to such lengths to try and ensure that no incident occurs at the airport that would dissuade tourists from coming to the country.

PompeyPete

It's a shame that the Nepalese government is so corrupt.

bobblebob

bap98189 wrote: »

Add in the importance of tourism (it accounts for almost 20% of their GDP) and you can see why they go to such lengths to try and ensure that no incident occurs at the airport that would dissuade tourists from coming to the country.

Absolutely love Nepal but they could do with improving the Visa on arrival process. 400+ people all trying to pay their Visa with only 3 booths open, took some in our group 2 hours to get through the Visa process and get their luggage