Can jewelry be worn when going through the body scanners?
 

My wife would like to know if she can wear her diamond and gold jewlery through the new body scaners.She always wore them then after security she would take them off and put them in a body pouch.Just want to know if she can still wear them.

Let me move this for discussion to the Travel Safety/Security forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Everything comes off for the body scanner. My question to you is, why would she even consider going through the body scanner in the first place?

Don't be a "sheeple" - Opt-out.

Interesting question.. I've flown so many times with my wife going through security, I don't even know the common sense answer. I don't remember her taking off her 2K+ solitaire.. that would of worried me to tears.

A ring, or small earrings generally won't set off the Walk Thru Metal Detector (WTMD), but even pocket lint can show up on the body scanners... if they are actually looking at the screen at the time. (DFW screeners missed a pistol going thru a body scanner 5 times during a recent test.)

It's a matter of personal choice. Some people find the AIT scanners less objectionable than the "up-close-and-personal" physical pat-downs. Neither alternative is pleasant, and reasonable people will differ as to which of those two unpleasant choices is less unpleasant.

I wear a gold chain that has never set off the WTMD, and the clerks never tell me to take it off before they attempt to herd me into the box. (Which, of course, I refuse to get into.) My watch has been known to occasionally set off the WTMD, so I usually toss that into the bag (inexpensive Fossil watch, go figure. The Movado never sets it off, and it's 10x the price)

My wife's rings and earrings never set off the WTMD either, but she won't get in the box, either. So YMMV.

I really wonder about these pat-downs. Of course, there are some real TSA idiots out there, but I go through security 4 or 5 times a week. I always opt-out. I have yet to be involved in the "Grope". A my pat-downs have been no big deal, and I've never had reason to complain.

Some have legitiment complaints, but many are over reacting.

What do you consider overreacting? If I wince because the groper has hurt my breasts, is that overreacting?

I also fly a lot, and I opt out every time. The so-called pat down varies greatly, even at the same airport and same security lane. I've had my breasts "patted" to the point of a lot of discomfort, other times they are barely grazed. Same thing is true regarding going up my legs. Sometimes they do go all the way up with force and other times not so much.

I never know who is going to get very offended because I opt out and who will remain professional.

I've been accused of sexual harassment (me? you are doing the feeling up yet *I* am the harasser?), been told my concerns (which I don't share with them, because it's not their business) are unfounded and unwarranted, and I cannot tell you how many times I've had to wait while TSA agents mill around deciding who drew the short straw this time.

You may call my frustration with the TSA an overreaction. I call it fed up with incompetence.

I also have a Cochlear Implant that has a magnet in my head.Can I go thru the body scanner?I can not take an MRI with the magnet in my head so I was thinking this is simaler.

Pleas re-read my post. I stated that SOME overact. That doesn't mean that others don't have a ligitiment case.
You may have legitiment problems with TSA, but you definately over reacted to my post:)

A bit off topic but:
It's "just" an x-ray, like other high frequency electromagnetic radiation like light or infrared, except it's high enough frequency to be ionizing and therefore cancer-causing. It doesn't produce much magnetic force just like light does not.

An MRI is a huge, very powerful electromagnet - often created using cooled wires to create a superconductor. It's enough force to require a couple people to pull a metal chair away if it gets too close. So it can potentially rip out pieces of metal.

An MRI has more in common with the walk-through metal detector than the backscatter x-ray nude-o-scope. Metal detectors have been known to cause slight issues with older pacemakers. I'm not an expert on medical exemptions or risk, but it would be slight. You probably drive over a similar use of metal detection technology everyday without thinking about it - traffic light car detectors.


Back on topic: as for the jewelry, a number of threads have detailed how people are asked to remove everything. The general consensus here is to lock all cash, jewelry, and valuables in a lockable compartment of your carry-on or lock the entire bag. That way the TSO's will be forced to have you present to go through it and have less chance for them or other passengers to steal.

You should still opt-out of the nude-o-scope though, for safety and privacy reasons.

I think anyone would be ill-advised to have nice jewelry at a US airport.

Part of the problem is that the TSA doesn't have rules that they have to follow (at least in practice), so no one here can give you a definitive answer. They might tell her to take off her jewelry or they might not. If they do, there'll be nothing she can do about it, except not fly.

The risk is a "light fingered" TSA agent (or more likely a pair working in collusion) or an opportunistic light-fingered passenger. In the simplest case, one screener demands its removal "for security" and the other makes it vanish from the x-ray.

A more abusive variant uses the intimate "pat down" if someone opts out of the virtual strip search x-ray or if the TSA claims there is an "anomaly" on her body.

The victim is distracted and upset by invasive touching of her crotch, under her bra, inside her waistband, in her hair, etc. If they can make it bad enough, when it's over, she just grabs her bag and runs for the nearest bathroom to vomit and cry and try to wash herself and forgets (until it's too late) to demand her jewelry back from the agent - who fails to report that it was "accidentally" left behind.

If you look on this forum (or just google for news reports), you'll see that there have been a fair number of cases with charges filed, both for random theft and for well organized theft rings, including e.g. kickbacks to supervisors.

If you want to wear jewelry, buy some cheap stuff that has neither money nor sentimental value. Other than that, stick with just a plain band and say that you haven't taken it off for years and it doesn't come off.

Just be careful to put some paste or something under it, I said that a couple of years ago to a TSA screener who said she "had to examine my jewelry" (narrow gold chain and small gold earrings) and she grabbed my ring and tugged - luckily I was a little bloated and it didn't come far. I basically haven't worn any jewelry I care about to the US since.

NO ONE is going to get my wedding/engagement ring off my finger (and I've never been asked to remove it by TSA). It's been on my hand for almost 42 years, through two childbirths and a couple of surgeries, and it's NOT coming off!

Generally speaking you dont need to remove any jewelry when going through the imaging process. However big necklaces with large pendants should be moved around to the back of the torso, so when the patdown is done, the offficer does not have to pat the breast area.