When I fly, I usually wear Dr Martens 1461 oxford shoes, in part because they have no metal shanks in them. I found out about the lack of metal from a friendly TSA screener at IND who told me that all Docs are metal-free. (I guess he's wasn't aware of their steel-toed footwear, but I digress.)

In the past I've worn the Docs through TSA checkpoints at various airports without any trouble. There was another time at IND when a screener suggested that I remove them (a real suggestion, not the scripted-sounding, "I recommend that you remove your shoes" that really means, "You're going to secondary if you don't take off your shoes"). But when I politely told her that they were metal-free, I was allowed to pass through the WTMD without further comment or being sent to secondary.

One time at MHT (which has official-looking metal detectors on the floor for pax to check their shoes before they reach the WTMD), a TSA supervisor even pointed out the trademark Dr Martens yellow stiching around the soles to the screeners, informed them how to identify Docs by the stitching, and mentioned their lack of metal. Her point seemed to be, "Hey screeners, these are shoes you don't have to worry about."

Anyway, I recently went through security at SEA (where I've worn the Docs at least once in the past without comment from the screeners). I got the scripted-sounding, "I recommend that you remove your shoes," and I politely informed her that my shoes were Docs and had no metal. Her reply was, "That is not the criteria. You are not required to remove your shoes, but you will have to undergo secondary screening if you do not remove them." Since I had plenty of time to catch my flight, I politely indicated that a secondary screening was fine with me.

When another screener approached me for the secondary screening, I politely requested a private screening, as I have pierced nipples and prefer that they be visually inspected instead of patted down. Once the screener (and a second screener--I assume TSA wants private screenings to have a witness) and I got inside the tent-like "room," things got weird.

First, the screener repeatedly ran the wand over my shoes until he got a beep out of the wand from the shoelace eyelets on top of the shoes. (Okay, so I guess my shoes technically do contain a bit of metal.) He then indicated that my shoes needed to be x-rayed.

For the body wanding, the screener ran the wand repeatedly over the same areas of my body. While doing so, he held the wand much closer to my body than I've experienced during past TSA wandings--in fact, he touched me with the wand multiple times. And the wand would occasionally beep at spots where there was absolutely no metal (e.g., the sides of my legs).

Additionally, the screener patted down the belt area of the front of my pants, even though the wand didn't beep there at all. I wasn't wearing a belt, BTW.

The screener had no problem with my request for a visual piercing inspection, although when I started taking off my shirt, he quickly said in a somewhat nervous tone of voice, "You can just lift it up." I got the impression that TSA tries to avoid anything resembling a strip search.

Finally, I was given back my shoes and carry-ons, wished a good evening, and allowed to proceed to the gate.

My questions:

1) Whom should I contact to complain about the SEA "shoe carnival"? Calling the TSA Contact Center seems useless--I already did it to complain about a previous SEA shoe carnival incident (different pair of shoes), and although I was asked for a telephone number, I never received a return call. I followed up with an emailed and snail-mailed letter to the TSA's Customer Service Manager at SEA (his name and email address were posted on SEA's website) and again got no response. So I don't consider either of these to be worth a try.

2) Is it proper for a screener to repeatedly run the wand over the same area? In the past, I've had screeners do just one pass over each body part, with a quick pat-down of the area if necessary to resolve any alarm (e.g., the time I forgot to remove my watch).

3) What's up with the wand repeatedly beeping in the absence of metal? A faulty wand, perhaps?

4) Is it proper for a screener to pat down the belt area if the wand doesn't alarm there? I'd never experienced that before.

5) Are private secondary screenings supposed to be done differently from their "public" counterparts, aside from the additional screener to serve as a witness?

One other note: I may have seemed suspicious to the TSA screeners because I was jittery. I had intentionally sleep-deprived myself in preparation for a red-eye flight and was running on caffeine, hence the jitters.

Thanks in advance, especially to the helpful TSA-affiliated folks who post here.