Is the UK the only country where body scanner opt-out = you can't fly?
I'm curious which other countries apart from the UK (if any) do not permit you to board your flight if you opt out of a body scan when randomly selected to go through one. In the UK you can not request a manual search, and even if you offer to strip naked you will not be permitted to board your flight unless you submit your body to whatever waves it is that those machines belt out.
I believe that so far, these machines are in use at Manchester, Heathrow and Gatwick.
This frustrates me massively as a UK resident, with Gatwick as my nearest airport. When they talk about the safety of such devices, making comparisons with cosmic rays and radiation exposure on flights, they don't make a distinction that the stuff you're exposed to on a flight is natural, whereas I would wonder how naturally the source of the electromagnetism/radioactivity(?) from these devices is created. There are several other arguments for allowing an opt-out but the predominant one for me is that I do not wish to submit my body to these rays. I can't even hold a mobile phone to my ear -- I get a horrible sensation of pins-and-needles, heat and cobwebs which lasts for several hours after just a 30-second call. But I digress!
As such, for leisure trips within Europe, I do not fly out of the UK. I have the advantage of living on the south coast where a ferry trip to France is convenient, and for trips in western continental Europe I would prefer to use the train. Business flights are not so easy -- my most recent trips were to Boston and Helsinki where overland travel is not so easy. Also, in order to continue to have an income, if I get too picky with my clients they'll find someone else to do the job. For work in France, Spain, Germany or Benelux etc. I would request to do the travelling by boat or train.
Sometimes with leisure trips, the return leg ends up altogether much more convenient by plane -- and I'm prepared to do this where I could opt out of a body scan. So going back to the original question, does anyone know of any other countries where a body scan is mandatory to being allowed to fly if you're selected to submit to one?
Many thanks!