As a frequent traveler with a hip replacement, I echo what others have said about the futility of a letter.
In terms of "any other tips", however, I can offer the following:
- My hip alarms the WTMD about 30% of the time. Walking very slowly through the detector MAY reduce the likelihood of an alarm (or they may just be calibrated differently.)
- When traveling with someone, as we approach the checkpoint, I invite my companion to go first through the WTMD and ask them to watch my purse, laptop, etc if I get snagged for the patdown.
- When getting the patdown, I insist on being able to see my belongings at all time. When they say "turn around this way so I can do your back", stay where you are and get them to move. Tell them "I want to keep an eye on my things." NB: I do this even if my traveling companion is also watching my stuff - it's my small part in training the checkpoint staff. In ZRH they say "my colleague will watch your things" to which I reply, "How does she know which bags are mine?" and
then they have me point them out so they can move them to one side.
Some screeners will say "we have security cameras" but seriously, if your handbag is stolen, do you want to go to an office, hope they have the theft on camera, and wait for them to try to track someone down?
- I am absolutely scrupulous about wearing NOTHING else that will alarm the WTMD. I put my watch and jewelry in my purse (even though I know it won't alarm) and I have elastic waist jeans
that I wear only when flying. No metal buttons on my clothes. If my hip alarms, I say "it's just my hip." Don't give them anything ELSE to point to and say "maybe it's THAT" or you could be there all day.
- I fly from lots of non-US airports where shoe removal is not automatically required, but when my hip alarms, the first thing they do is send me back to take my shoes off. Ironically, people with replacement hips and knees are often the very people who find it challenging to remove their shoes while standing up.
Depending on my physical and mental state, I either argue with them for a bit before taking them off (but then I really make a fuss about being able to see my things while I'm backtracking through the WTMD), or I insist that they swab them instead.
- This one is controversial and someone will be along shortly to argue the opposite
: If your mother is over 75, she should be eligible for PreCheck at certain airports in the US. This is an expedited screening where you don't have to remove shoes, liquids or laptops. (There are debates in other parts of this forum about the pros and cons of PreCheck - I'm not going into all that here.) Even though she doesn't
have to, and even though other people in the line will complain, I would advise her to remove her shoes anyway, just to save that step later. (I don't fly in the US so I don't know whether PreCheck people who alarm the WTMD have to remove shoes.)
It really is a nuisance, but I hope these little things may help.