Originally Posted by
txflyer77
Cleared DEN security ten minutes ago. Theater is in full-force. The metal detector at the south Pre line is now "randomly" rejecting people, so even though you have Pre you have to go through the MMW or wait for a grope.
This has unfortunately been the case at all Pre WTMDs for some time (years). What TSA varies is the rate of "random" rejections: it had been fairly low IME of late, but I've had bad stretches where it "randomly" rejected me for several flights in a row.
You can usually tell the difference when walking through: a metal detection beeps right away, whereas the "random" one beeps a half second or so later. (It also IIRC shows "RAND" or something similar on the LED display atop the WTMD.)
In the past, this meant just a hand swab and possible bag secondary--annoying, but no big deal as it resolved in seconds. Earlier this year, they went to directing all WTMD alarms to the Nude-o-Scopes, which I find more annoying.
Originally Posted by
txflyer77
The perv groping me claimed this is a nationwide policy: Pre WTMDs will randomly beep. I don't know if that's true—could just be this mouthbreather blowing smoke—but I made it clear to him exactly how stupid and pointless that is.
He was unfortunately right.