For most travellers, long queues and repeated bag checks are part of the airport experience. For Will DePue, an engineer at OpenAI, it was a mystery worth broadcasting to the internet. His amused frustration quickly turned into a viral conversation about how India handles air travel security.
OpenAI Engineer’s Post On Indian Airport Security Goes Viral
indian airports make no sense.
cant enter the airport without passport + reciept check + get patted down and metal scanned.
walk in, pre-security boarding pass and passport check.
done with security line, another pass & passport check
get x rayed, bag scanner, and patted down… https://t.co/VB1JXDiaV2— will depue (@willdepue) August 12, 2025
DePue, an OpenAI is currently touring India as part of Discovery of India. It is a program designed for global technologists to immerse themselves in the country’s innovation, policy, and culture. This OpenAI engineer has been documenting his impressions online. One post in particular struck a nerve: his in-depth account of the Indian airport security system.
The first line was blunt enough to draw instant attention: “Indian airports make no sense.” He followed with a list that read more like an obstacle course than a boarding process. First checkpoint is a ticket and passport inspection before you can even set foot in the terminal. Then, a combination of pat-downs, metal detectors, and another boarding pass check.
At the main security line, carry-ons are sent through an X-ray scanner while passengers themselves get a wand sweep. At the gate, the boarding pass comes out yet again. By this point, DePue implied, most travellers would consider the process complete. But it is not so. Minutes before boarding, security staff stopped him to manually inspect his bags, the same ones that had just cleared the X-ray machine.
What Led To His Frustration?
His incredulous reaction made the post: “BUT I JUST GOT X RAYED. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO FIND NOW? There’s a giant line of people waiting to get to the plane.”
That mix of exasperation and humour resonated with thousands. Frequent flyers joined the conversation with their own challenges about bottlenecks. Defenders countered with reminders that India’s Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) mandates multiple layers of screening, the thinking being that redundancy helps plug any gaps left by earlier checks.
While manual pre-boarding searches are uncommon in most Western airports, India’s layered approach is rooted in its own security calculus. Some aviation experts argue that these measures, while inconvenient, are the reason for the country’s relatively incident-free record. Others say the system needs rethinking to match the growing passenger load.
For now, DePue’s post remains more of a travel anecdote that is funny and frustrating in equal parts. But it captured, in a single sarcastic question, the tension at the heart of modern airport security: “What are you going to find now?”
Cover Image Courtesy: sparshagarwall/X and willdepue/X
For more such snackable content, interesting discoveries and the latest updates on food, travel and experiences in your city, download the Curly Tales App. Download HERE. First Published: August 13, 2025 5:12 PM