Practical Travel Safety Issues - Is opting opt of the nudoscope permitted in Canada, UK, Netherlands?

There's an article in the news about holes in airport security. It mentions the nudoscope (ok, not that word...various types of CT and microwave technology) used mainly in the US, but also in Canada, UK, Amsterdam, and soon to be, Australia.

Can one opt out in any of those places, besides the U.S.?

There's an article in the news about holes in airport security. It mentions the nudoscope (ok, not that word...various types of CT and microwave technology) used mainly in the US, but also in Canada, UK, Amsterdam, and soon to be, Australia.

Can one opt out in any of those places, besides the U.S.?

Opt out is always allowed in AMS. I'll let others comment on the rest.

No opt out in the UK

No opt out in the UK

This is not entirely accurate. One can always opt out of screening in the UK, but one may not be permitted access to the Restricted Zone as a result.

You can opt out in Canada.

Please follow the thread as it's relocated to the Practical Travel Safety Issues forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Per the Australian report, the UK is the only country where you cannot opt out. The US, Canada and Netherlands allow opt outs, and Thailand uses body scanners on a "purely voluntary basis", whatever that means.

My experience in Amsterdam has been that the opt-out patdowns there are painless, with the security person not putting his hands in any inappropriate areas.

I read that article on CNN.com, and my takeaway was that the people selling the scanners pointed out that many airports do not have AIT technology, and, therefore, are a security hole in the system. From the article I read, I inferred that countries with the technology need to buy more of it, but countries without it all are going to get us all killed.

I did not get the sense that anybody could credibly claim opting out and getting a pat-down is a security hole. Underwear bombs (which is what prompted the article I read) would surely be detected when he runs the back of his hand over my backside.

Canada and Netherlands - yes. Also, they are used VERY infrequently in Canada and always as secondary.

UK - No. They are, however, stationed away from elite/premium lines.

This is not entirely accurate. One can always opt out of screening in the UK, but one may not be permitted access to the Restricted Zone as a result.

In which case, it is accurate.

My experience in Amsterdam has been that the opt-out patdowns there are painless, with the security person not putting his hands in any inappropriate areas.
Does the same sort of opt out pat down happen in Canada? or does CATSA use the same sort of pat down as the TSA?

Are the scanners in AMS only used for US bound flights?

Per the Australian report, the UK is the only country where you cannot opt out. The US, Canada and Netherlands allow opt outs, and Thailand uses body scanners on a "purely voluntary basis", whatever that means.
The UK by not allowing an opt out is in breach of EU law.
The Australian Transport Minister wants a no opt out policy for Australia. Such a policy (and in fact the entire bill permitting the body scanners at all) is currently being fought against, hopefully before it goes to a vote.

You can sort of "opt-out" in the UK by choosing your airport/terminal. There are no nudoscopes in T5 according to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18484529-post260.html

UK - No. They are, however, stationed away from elite/premium lines.

Not in MAN they arent.

Even for those with great analytic minds, search can be your friend

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/practical-travel-safety-issues/1186130-uk-body-scanners-no-opt-out.html

The UK by not allowing an opt out is in breach of EU law.

The UK has always considered itself to be above EU law. They also have a habit of negotiating "opt outs" (yes, that's the term they use) for laws they don't like, such as being forced to join the euro. In this case, I believe they are claiming that the scanners are "experimental" or something like that.

On another note, does anyone know if Canada, Netherlands and Thailand have backscatter, or is it all MMW?

Does the same sort of opt out pat down happen in Canada? or does CATSA use the same sort of pat down as the TSA?

Are the scanners in AMS only used for US bound flights?


The UK by not allowing an opt out is in breach of EU law.
The Australian Transport Minister wants a no opt out policy for Australia. Such a policy (and in fact the entire bill permitting the body scanners at all) is currently being fought against, hopefully before it goes to a vote.

Canadian pat down is quicker and more courteous than in the US.

As for Australia - I'm on a wait and see with that.

Not in MAN they arent.

They are also BKSX at MAN - so I won't go near that place.

The UK has always considered itself to be above UK law. They also have a habit of negotiating "opt outs" (yes, that's the term they use) for laws they don't like, such as being forced to join the euro. In this case, I believe they are claiming that the scanners are "experimental" or something like that.

On another note, does anyone know if Canada, Netherlands and Thailand have backscatter, or is it all MMW?

Canada is all MMW. Don't know about the rest.

As for being experimental - all the more reason to opt-out. The Germans called them experimental at HAM and they allowed 100% opt out.

CATSA/Canada will give you a good massage but not touch anything appropriate. Actually the pat down is quite often quicker than waiting for the nude-o-scope machines, at least this was the experience at YYC in Concourse D.

On another note, does anyone know if Canada, Netherlands and Thailand have backscatter, or is it all MMW?

An earlier poster commented on Canada, but AMS is all MMW.

The only international destinations I know that use backscatter are MAN, ICN and ALA. LHR T5 used to have backscatter until earlier this year when MMW replaced them.

Are the scanners in AMS only used for US bound flights?


No, also for UK departures.

The only international destinations I know that use backscatter are MAN, ICN and ALA. LHR T5 used to have backscatter until earlier this year when MMW replaced them.

I believe LHR T5 is currently NoS-free and awaiting MMW machines. Have you seen them there lately?

It is worth noting that LHR and LGW, while not allowing opt-outs, probably scan at most a couple of hundred pax per day. The scanners are only used for pax who are "randomly" selected, who cause WTMD/ETD alarms that can't be resolved by traditional methods, and pax who wish to opt out of WTMD screening for whatever reason. MAN, on the other hand, is different. Most/all people who alarm the WTMD are automatically sent for a scan, and latest reports are that around 1 in 4 people are randomly selected on top of that.

I believe LHR T5 is currently NoS-free and awaiting MMW machines. Have you seen them there lately?

The last time I went through LHR was in November. At the time the South checkpoint had the backscatter walled up and not visible. The North checkpoint had the backscatter visible but obviously not in use. I was under the impression that the backscatter units had been remove and MMW units were operating in their place based on reports from other threads.

Are the scanners in AMS only used for US bound flights?


No. I experienced them recently on a flight AMS-PTY.