British Airways chairman pans U.S. security rules

LONDON (AP) — The United States is making excessive demands for airline passenger screening, including measures it doesn't require on U.S. domestic flights, the chairman of British Airways says.

Martin Broughton complained specifically about separate checks of laptop computers and forcing people to take off their shoes for checking, saying that such measures are "completely redundant," the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

Broughton aired his complaint Tuesday at the annual conference of the U.K. Airport Operators Association. British Airways said the report was accurate, but it does not have a text of the chairman's remarks.

"America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do," Broughton was quoted as saying.

"We shouldn't stand for that. We should say, 'We'll only do things which we consider to be essential and that you Americans also consider essential.'"