Hot off the press from the UK Department for Transport.
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Airport Security Scanners
Thank you for your e-mail of 17 April to the FOI Advice team about airport security scanners. I have been asked to respond.
[snipped – see link to PDF for full letter]
In particular, you have heard anecdotal accounts of passengers that request an alternative to a body scan, being told by airport security personnel in the UK that police will be contacted to confirm the passenger's details and you have a number of questions which are as follows:
1. If selected for a body scan, may a passenger opt out from being scanned in a body scanner and instead be allowed an alternative search?
Yes. As explained in the 2014 response, in November 2013, the Secretary of State announced that passengers who opt out of being screened by a security scanner would be allowed a private search alternative. This is a method of screening which is considered to be of an equivalent security value to a security scan. These revised arrangements are kept under review to ensure that high levels of security are maintained whilst avoiding disproportionate impacts on airports and passengers.
2. Upon having requested an alternative search, is a passenger then compelled to disclose his/her: a. reason for not wishing to submit to a scan; b. name; c. address; d. flight time; e. flight destination; f. nationality; g. occupation; h. date of birth; i. any other personal information?
No. As explained in the 2014 response, airports may ask a passenger who is selected for scanning but chooses to opt out to give their reasons for doing so in order to assist and facilitate the search process. The Department does not require the information given to be kept by the airport.
3. Upon having requested an alternative search, is a passenger then compelled to show an identifying document, e.g. passport, boarding pass?
No. However, airports may advise a passenger who is selected for scanning but chooses to opt out, that an alternative search will take significantly more time than passing through a security scanner.
4. Are passengers who request an alternative search required to fill in a form to state consent to this alternative search? If so what personal details need to be disclosed on this form?
No. As explained in the 2014 response, the Department for Transport does not require a consent form to be completed passengers who request an alternative method of search after being selected to go through a security scanner.
5. Is the personal information of passengers who have opted out from a body scan passed on to the Department for Transport, the police, or any other government body? If so, what information, and which bodies?
No. As explained in the 2014 response, the Department might in future ask airports for aggregated information on the number of passengers choosing to opt out and the reasons given, but this would not be on an individual basis.
6. Is a passenger obliged to disclose any personal information whatsoever if he or she willingly submits to an alternative search after declining a body scan?
No. Please see the answer to Question 2 above.
7. Is there a Department of Transport mandate that the hand baggage and/or checked-in luggage of a passenger who willingly submits to an alternative scan needs to be subjected to a secondary enhanced security inspection?
No. However, airports have discretion to apply stricter security controls. This would be a matter for the airport.
I hope that you have found this response helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Bryan Small
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Source where you can print off a letter-headed PDF to show to belligerent security personnel:
attachment.pdf
Essentially DoT policy has not changed since 2014 where passengers are not obliged to do anything other than submit to a manual search when opting out of a body scan. Despite assertions of security personnel at airports, you don't have to give your details, sign any consent form, be reported to the police, or have your luggage subjected to an enhanced search, etc., simply as a result of opting out of a body scan.