So fred 737, please correct me if I'm wrong, I understand your personal experiences, but could you elaborate further ?
You have bypassed the metal detector, and ID check pre 9/11 ? (you used the word unchecked).
Secondly do the "security" people have different procedures for international and domestic passengers all while going through the metal detector?
If all this is true, it's all news to me as I always have to take out my computer at the metal detector whether it's the US or UK, domestic or international, plus I have put up with going through metal detectors for the past 20+ years as a pilot, when I could have posed as someone seeing a friend off for at least ten of them. Dammit.........
Apologies for the thread drift.