Originally Posted by
Ellie M
I just looked up
UA's contract of carriage. It's 49 pages, written in all caps. The only time security is mentioned is on page 9, one sentence.
Not only is this one sentence largely hidden in the middle of an unreadable contract, you don't have to read it when purchasing a ticket. I don't know that having this hidden statement in a contract you're not required to read before purchasing a ticket could be considered informed consent to something as invasive as a strip search or patdown.
The statement also only says they will not carry people "who refuses to permit search . . . ." It does not specify that you have to permit any sort of search for explosives. Because it doesn't specify what type of search, I think an argument could be made that any consent you might be giving to be searched is to a "reasonable search."
Nothing very explicit in there. And even if such a contract between an airline and a ticket buyer were magically explicit about the TSA's strip searching and manual hand-on-body contact with passengers' private parts (labia included where relevant), a ticket buyer doesn't have a right to surrender the rights of passengers who didn't buy the ticket. Adhesion contracts -- such as that between an airline and ticket buyer -- aren't carte blanche for the TSA or airlines to assume that an agreement exists granting informed consent to TSA strip searching and manual groping of all passengers' bodies. There is no such carte blanche agreement.