Thanks, everyone, for all the info -- especially guflyer and TWA884 for the links. I was wondering if it was "safe" yet, and this tells me no, gotta stick with the opt-out.

What I noticed is that sometimes they make my wife and I stand right up against the x-ray scanners that are used for carryons, with a look in their eye that makes me nearly certain it's on purpose, and it seems like when they do that they take their good old time, and for the ten minutes or so the only thing they do is yell at us to stand right up against the machine ... which we don't do, but being put in that position makes us understandably angry. This has happened twice. Not like they let us pull out a dosimeter or anything.

And whenever we fly, we're the only ones getting the frisk. We do it right in front of everyone, of course, and meanwhile there's the rest of the world, just going right through the machine and then putting their shoes on and doing what they're told to.

I guess it's just that it's become a bit wearying. We have another trip coming up soon and I hate dealing with TSA more than anything, especially since I also carry film which I ask for a hand check. They really look at us. At MCO, when the TSA guy heard we wanted a hand check AND a pat down, he said to his partner "I can't believe this. I'm gonna have to go get a manager to see *this* one." Last time we were in LAX, the agent was visibly repulsed having to do the job -- like the only time he'd done it before was during his first week of training. Then he had the nerve to complain about the number of bins I had: "You've got all those? That isn't even allowed!"

I'm really just sick of it and sometimes feel like the last man standing in this protest. To be honest, if I could afford pre-check, I'd probably pay it just to avoid the stupid hassle. There isn't much money in literature and books these days so I'm just grateful I'm able to fly as much as I do.