How to Navigate Body Scans and Pat-Downs

Reader Comments
Back to blog

I'm nearly 72 and know about flying. I had no problem entering the body scanner at Houston Intercontinental Airport on Nov 2. I'd required a wheel chair to get to the scanner, but was able to walk through. Again, I have absolutely no problem with being scanned. I was dressed appropriately in knit pants with an elastic waist (no metal), a lightweight polyester top, bra and panties. I was astonished after exiting the scanner to have the most thorough pat down I've ever experienced (and I've flown through Frankfort!). It was extremely unpleasant and totally unnecessary. As a result, despite the fact that I routinely make between 6 and 8 roundtrip flights per year, I am considering other modes of transportation. I do not care to experience again what I experienced on Nov 8.
Interestingly enough, when I left Reagan Airport in D. C. on my return flight on Nov 12, I was neither offered a body scanner OR required a pat down. Obviously, TSA isn't worried about an airport within sight of the Capitol OR the White House.
I fully expect the next Al Qaida operative to utilize condom-filled explosive inserted into either a rectum or a vagina. Do you think the American public will stand for body cavity searches? I don't, not even in the name of security.
We need Israeli-type profiling and we need it now. Outsource the whole security apparatus at airports to the Israelis and we'll all feel a lot safer.

Toby Turner of TX 12:24PM December 02, 2010

While participating in the recent Congressional campaign, I had the pleasure of attending events in elderly care communities, knocking on doors in neighborhoods, and the honor of conversation with 4 different Jewish people in their 90s who had escaped Nazi Germany.
Each of them offered the same view...the political, social, and economic climate, the public complacency, and the gradual personal intrusions by government, reportedly for our own safety and well-being, are remarkably reminiscent of before the War.
To suggest not traveling as the solution to objections is to suggest voluntary restriction of freedom and a new beginning of the end of American reasoning.

TL of AZ 9:55AM November 30, 2010

I'm very surprised you are not more bothered by the Orwellian aspsects of all this. I've liked several of your other peices, but felt perhaps i was not getting a full pciture at times. This peice makes me feel even more uneasy. I should thank the Nazi SS for doing their jobs well ? Please. The article would have been better without that closing.

cfmalloy of TX 2:18PM November 26, 2010

I am glad to hear that someone is driving vs. flying. Really, if this invasion of privacy bothers people, they have an alternative - - DON'T FLY. If you are worried about excessive radiation - - DON'T FLY. You are exposed to more radiation when flying in an airplane than you receive during a CT Scan. Flying is a privilege, and not a god-given right. Relax and take a deep breath. Flying ceased to be a fun exercise for most people even before 9/11.
If a bunch of kooks want to bring down planes with underwear bombs, let them wait in line and get scanned and patted down with the rest of us. Let's hope that the 'incessant groping' bothers them, and they decide to drive to there destination too! I just hope their underwear bombs don't blow up while they are pulling up beside you on the roadway.

Scottish of WI 9:09AM November 24, 2010

This is nothing less than misleading irresponsible propaganda. Enjoy registering your radios and bicycles everyone. Make sure you "smiles and thank" the SS soldier who registers you for a safe future.
(also: Your article is riddled with grammatical errors. Is it this easy to get a job at USN&WR?)

david-andrew of AZ 6:32AM November 24, 2010

Thank you JF of VA. The screening is unjustifiable and as someone who has experienced the pat down without the understanding of what it was, and someone who was threatend with legal action if I tried to leave the airport in refusal of the pat down, I know exactly what the big deal is. It baffles me and saddens me that so many Americans are okay with this behavior of our current government officials, saying our civil rights may have to be put aside for the sake of security. I want to know what happens if someone brings a bomb through a checkpoint hidden in their body cavity, then do cavity searches of everyday Americans become acceptable and a legal practice in our nation's airports?

Jen of GA 5:15PM November 23, 2010

"And some of the stories about groped passengers, thuggish security agents, and revealing body scans seem to have been exaggerated as they've bounced around the mediasphere."
This article is a joke and dismissive of what's at issue. These stories are not exaggerated...government drone Pistole apologized to the guy whose urine bag was popped by an idiot TSA goon, and the video evidence of TSA molesters groping little kids in the name of "security" is disgusting.
"AIT machines use X-rays, millimeter wave technology and other cool science to create a chalky image of the person's body, which will show whether the traveler is hiding anything down under--whether it's metallic or not."
Wow. That's all you have to say? "other cool science"?! Increased cancer risk isn't cool dummy...and one branch of the government telling another branch of the government that it’s safe to irradiate the general public does not inspire confidence. And, the Johns Hopkins APL study is misquoted by the TSA. The jury is still very much out on this technology and evidence shows that the skin of children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to these machines.
The point is this...the general public's civil rights are being violated and the Constitution is being trampled for 'security' measures that are reactive and stupidly applied. Terrorists are NOT equally distributed amongst the population. They are muslims who hate America. Yes, we home-grew McVeigh (who hated the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT) and the Uni-bomber who mailed explosives. Guess what, neither would have been stopped by the TSA and to cite these examples as reasons for enhanced screening of the general public is beyond absurd. The only reason we continue to do this is that people are too cowed to even question the absurd taboo against profiling - when the profile of the airline attacker is narrow, concrete, uniquely definable and universally known (to quote Krauthammer). The Israelis seem to realize that body scanners are a poor allocation of assets, and they have some of the toughest, most effective airport security apparati in the world.
The government is telling us that only about 3% of 3.5 million-some-odd citizens go through this--like that's some insignificant number. The rights of over 100,000 U.S. taxpayers has to mean something when our government seems so pre-occupied with making sure muslims aren't offended and terrorists get THEIR rights protected. That's what all the fuss is about "meichell of NY". Wake up.
I'm driving this year for the holidays even though it’s more dangerous than flying. Freedom isn't free and life carries risk, so deal with it and pay up or move. I won't trade my liberties for so-called 'security'.

JF of VA 10:35AM November 23, 2010

Your missing an airport on the list that have the scanners. Boise airport in Boise, ID has one. I went through it July of this year. Don't know what all the fuss is about.

meichell of NY 9:36AM November 23, 2010