X-ray backscatter security scanners

[sundial]

Oak, the article that you posted certainly raises more questions than answers. Like many here, I don't have a desire to fly--especially now that I have new hardware. What is alarming to me is this gradual desensitization of the masses to the whims of questionable security measures. What you see is not unlike how the Jews were searched prior to being sent to the camps in Nazi Germany. It has sunk that low.

[Crankin]

I still won't stop flying, but I wonder what the profile is for who gets scanned.
We flew from Logan to San Diego and back. DH got scanned both times and I was waved through.
He definitely looks "Semitic" and I got the Aryan genes.

[sundial]

Crankin, from what I've read from first hand accounts it seems that you will be TSA'd if you are 1) handicapped 2) elderly 3) woman. Arabs rarely get patted down, possibly due in part to their Sharia Law.

[TsPoet]

I still won't stop flying, but I wonder what the profile is for who gets scanned.
We flew from Logan to San Diego and back. DH got scanned both times and I was waved through.
He definitely looks "Semitic" and I got the Aryan genes.

that doesn't make any sense. I fly a lot - the lanes where you will and won't get scanned are labeled, all you have to do is move over. He must have been standing in different lines than you.
That's in the 5-6 airports in which I've flown over the last few years with the scanners.

[Crankin]

Nope, we were standing in the same line. I was behind him. He was motioned to stand in front of the scanner and when I was about to step forward, the agent waved over to the other line, to go through the regular thing. They do this all of the time at Logan and it seems rather arbitrary.
It also happened in San Diego.

[shootingstar]

I find this strange and interesting for U.S. domestic flights, the pat down.

I haven't had a pat down since 9-1-1. Or ever in my life. And I have flown since that time, well over 15 different flights with 6 flights outside of Canada into the U.S. and Europe.

I fly at least once per yr.

[NbyNW]

Last winter/spring I (and everyone taking flights to the US) was routinely getting patted down or scanned at the Edmonton airport. Seems to have eased off of late, and I have no idea why.

[channlluv]

My husband, daughter and I are flying to Oahu in a couple of weeks. I'm terrified of the pat down procedure, but I'm more scared of the radiation from the machines. I've called the TSA to ask for other options and was assured by the guy on the phone that they're not doing this to upset me - thanks - but I had a weeping anxiety attack as I sat there on the phone with him telling me I had no choice in the matter. I could either submit myself to physically dangerous radiation (skin cancer history), or to the psychologically dangerous enhanced pat down (rape and molestation survivor).

I even wrote a message to the White House about it today, but I doubt it will be taken seriously. I wrote to Barbara Boxer a few months ago and got a "thank you for your letter but there's nothing I can do for you" response.

My daughter is only 13. Except for me, the only people to even see her naked in the last ten years are her doctor and the other women changing at the Y pool locker room. She's shy about getting naked in front of people, but if everyone's doing it, it's not as big a deal. To my knowledge, there has been no touching of any kind for her.

So do we have to have an amendment to this no touching rule? Do we have to include random TSA agents?

I'm really hoping we get to just walk through the regular scanners.


What should we wear?
Knot, did the lycra thing work out well for you?
If I wear a dress, they can't check a waistband, but how far up do they go with their hands?

Can I insist on them changing their gloves before patting me down?

Any other suggestions for getting through this with a minimum of psychological trauma?

Thanks,
Roxy