Disgusting.

Will one of the TSOs on this board please tell us what rights passengers have once they have cleared the checkpoint? What would happen if the passengers being pulled aside at the gate refused to consent to the patdown? Can the TSO deny them entry onto the plane? If so, under what authority?

Can a TSO just approach anyone in the sterile area of the airport and demand that they spread their arms and feet and be patted down?

I think that if I were traveling myself, and did not absolutely have to be at my destination that day, this is one of these situations where I would have said that enough was enough, and refused to consent to any patdown outside of the checkpoint. Absolutely *%(#*!* disgusting. No other way to describe it.