Tangentially related, but I normally wear boots and I'm asked to take them off every time I fly inside EU. But that's the worst what can happen, have never been ordered to unlock my devices or asked personal questions.

I've taken to wearing shoes that I can slip on/off easily, and a carbon fiber belt buckle. Well worth it.

> No other security agents in the world require you to take off your shoes, or do anything more than a standard leg pat down

False. At least when flying from Schiphol (Amsterdam) you'll be taking off your shoes and you'll go through an X-ray. Not sure about other airports but it wouldn't surprise me if this was a European thing instead of just a Dutch thing - I can't recall if they required it in Spain as well.

This is factually incorrect. I fly through Schiphol 10+ times a year and never had to take off my shoes. Neither did I in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, London, Copenhagen, so "it's not a European thing" either.

I did see officers asking specific individuals to take off their shoes, with a specific justification: when either the shoes obviously contain metal, or the individuals go through the X ray machine and it complains and there is no obvious other metallic item.

We sometimes have to do that in the UK too, so I think it is European.