I've been travelling on business again and am yet again dismayed by the treatment of customers (like me) by the airlines and the airports.
First off, I'm really not sure of the benefit of the electronic check-in machines for anybody who has luggage to check in. You arrive at the check-in area and they push you towards the electronic check machines (which, I'll agree, are really impressive), but if you have luggage you have to go through the electronic process and then wait in a similar sized queue just to drop off your bags. It doesn't seem to save you a whole lot of time.
Second, the security is getting to the point of being onerous. I left from Frankfurt and went through boarding pass control, security (including taking off belts, watches etc, and removing the laptop from my bag and having it 'sniffed' for explosives). Then I bought some drinks and sandwiches before going through the final checkpoint, passport control.