Practical Travel Safety Issues - New way of avoiding scanners

Saw the guy in front of me do this last week:

He handed the TDC his ID and boarding pass. Upon getting it back, he told him "I'm going to opt out, is there a line for that?" The TDC directed him to one of the lines, and the TSO who was there opened up the WTMD for him to go through. All the lines had the scanners in operation, and the WTMD was opened just for him and then closed.

I'm going to try this next time I am at a checkpoint with scanners operating in all the lanes.

Saw the guy in front of me do this last week:

He handed the TDC his ID and boarding pass. Upon getting it back, he told him "I'm going to opt out, is there a line for that?" The TDC directed him to one of the lines, and the TSO who was there opened up the WTMD for him to go through. All the lines had the scanners in operation, and the WTMD was opened just for him and then closed.

I'm going to try this next time I am at a checkpoint with scanners operating in all the lanes.

What airport is this? This seems really odd. Although, would be great if it worked consistently.

Saw the guy in front of me do this last week:

He handed the TDC his ID and boarding pass. Upon getting it back, he told him "I'm going to opt out, is there a line for that?" The TDC directed him to one of the lines, and the TSO who was there opened up the WTMD for him to go through. All the lines had the scanners in operation, and the WTMD was opened just for him and then closed.

I'm going to try this next time I am at a checkpoint with scanners operating in all the lanes.

I've had a similar experience at roughly 5:30 AM in DEN. Only one lane was open, and the TSO was directing everyone except families through the MMW. When it was my turn, she pointed at the MMW, and I told her that I was opting out, because I was not a criminal and I refused to be treated like one. She got a dumbfounded look, and motioned me through the WTMD without saying anything. I waited for a moment to see if a male assist was coming over, but no one did, so I grabbed my stuff and went.

Sometimes I wish our resident TSO friend would see the things that we do. :rolleyes:

I've had a similar experience at roughly 5:30 AM in DEN. Only one lane was open, and the TSO was directing everyone except families through the MMW. When it was my turn, she pointed at the MMW, and I told her that I was opting out, because I was not a criminal and I refused to be treating like one. She got a dumbfounded look, and motioned me through the WTMD without saying anything. I waited for a moment to see if a male assist was coming over, but no one did, so I grabbed my stuff and went.

Sometimes I wish our resident TSO friend would see the things that we do. :rolleyes:

I wish these things would happen to me. I always get the pat down if I opt out.

I wish these things would happen to me. I always get the pat down if I opt out.Last time I went through ATL, I got waved towards the scanner. I said I was opting out and was directed through the WTMD. After my carry on was through the xray, they closed the lane and all the TSO's there went home (end of shift).

I've only had two chances to opt out of a NoS:

TLH: The TDC is at the front end of a long rope maze (kind of ironic, since the line is never more than about three people long). One NoS, single file, and the TDC can't send you to a specific line.

CLT: A single serpentine line breaks out to a few TDCs, after which point it's a "choose the shortest line" to traverse the actual checkpoint. Once again, it didn't look like there was a way for the TDC to direct me towards a specific line.

At both these airports, NoS was in use for 100% of pax, and only opt-outs were being sent through the WTMD (which I'd guess was probably off).

The couple of times i opt out i got the pat down too :(

I thought the SOP was "if they ask for the WTMD, don't give it to them".

In the same spirit that there is no positive bag-passenger matching if the separation is caused by the airline and out of the passenger's control.