As a EU citizen, I see these events from a bit different angle. I have visited US several times and the atmosphere and behaviour of both the customs officers and the TSA personnel gets more and more overlooking.
I have never went through such extended search but going across a US airport feels really uncomfortable, to the extent I haven't seen in another country (UK comes close, though). The thing is Trump only added a little bit. This is a process that has been evolving for some time already.
I wonder if anything would change if all US travellers to Europe would be given a leaflet explaining:
"As a reciprocal measure for ESTA or Visa process, you are obliged to pay $14 entry fee. Moreover, we will perform an extended search to every fifth American passport holder. During the search, we may seize your devices and ask for your passwords. Not complying may result in a detention up to 24 hours and/or denied entry."
Dilapidated arrival halls, endless lines and queues in the peak season, aggressive UK Border posters everywhere that make you feel like you're entering a prison visiting lounge, face/RFID scanners that frequently crap out, miserable/hostile border staff barking at you. I felt like a harassed cow going through an industrialised slaughter house the last time I flew in to Gatwick in the Summer.
Quite a contrast when you're used to travelling between Schengen area countries (or in my case, watching my French wife enjoy the benefits).
Will be fun to see how closely we start emulating the US once Brexit happens. Am sure my EU friends will love having all 10 of their fingers on file and a thorough "why are you here? how long for? where are you staying? when are you leaving?" questioning session every time they pass through...
My wife and I used the UK for a base last summer for a European tour. Big mistake: it doesn't matter which airport you're flying into: the lines are 80 miles long at LHR, the border agents at LGW look like it's 4:45PM on Friday no matter the day of the week, and a bottle of water costs 3 GBP at LCY.
We could have avoided all of this idiocy by simply moving our base of operations to a Schengen country -- no internal border checks, halfway competent security personnel and less stress overall.
Pity -- London was not terrible once you got into it.
Currently, when an EU citizen enters UK from the Heathrow Airport we can just scan our passports on the machine and get through. Usually there would be a nice lady to assist you if you are having trouble with the scanning.
Usually there isn't even other personnel around. I never encountered any checks or questioning.
But then again, the British tend to be very civil and I can't imagine getting a treatment similar to those we keep hearing about US borders.
Try being a non-EU citizen using London as a base for a summer travel, and being required to interact with Border Force wankers on every transit through the country. They're invasively racist at every turn: Here's a credit card and a reservation at a niceish hotel. You aren't convinced that we won't be a burden on your ratty public purse? Alas. How about an onward ticket for tomorrow evening? No? Hmm. Ok, here's a bank statement. Is that enough zeroes for you? Great! Yes, this is our daughter. Yes, she does have a rather lovely tan. I'm originally from Bangladesh and my wife is from the US. No, you really don't need to know what our parents think of our marriage. Oh, I program for a living. Do you want to know more about functional reactive programming? Well...
This literally went on for half an hour, while our infant daughter (who was suffering from the flu) was clearly in distress. When my wife asked for a bit of privacy to nurse her, she was barked at. The interrogation eventually ended, but only after a condescending speech about how lucky we were to be allowed in.
Someone should tell the UK that not everyone dreams of casino-funded memories of Empire.
I was held up when I traveled to the UK years ago when I was on a work sabbatical. I came over on a one way ticket with a plan to visit old friends and travel around. I was not allowed to enter until I managed to produce bank information showing that I had enough funds to cover my trip.
Yes, but that's inside the EU. If you were traveling between States in the US, you would only need your drivers license and there's no going through customs.
UK is different from the rest of the EU, where is pretty much the same as your example of the US. On the Schengen area there is no border controls as the physical borders don't exist and to travel in EU all you need is your national ID card if you don't want to bother with a passport.
I prefer the passport, I think you can't use the ID card on the automated UK border check.
I have never went through such extended search but going across a US airport feels really uncomfortable, to the extent I haven't seen in another country (UK comes close, though). The thing is Trump only added a little bit. This is a process that has been evolving for some time already.
I wonder if anything would change if all US travellers to Europe would be given a leaflet explaining:
"As a reciprocal measure for ESTA or Visa process, you are obliged to pay $14 entry fee. Moreover, we will perform an extended search to every fifth American passport holder. During the search, we may seize your devices and ask for your passwords. Not complying may result in a detention up to 24 hours and/or denied entry."