Originally Posted by cphobes
My understanding is that a passenger can request their carry-on be placed at the very least within sight. You can also request that you can watch it go in and then out of the machine to prevent tampering or theft.
Course this slows the process down which I'm sure the TSA loves.
In ether case during one instance at DFW while I was being searched due to my shoes I demanded that I would have full view of my carry-on in order so that I could keep track of my carry on since I was responsible for it.
You can always
request it. It seems to be up to the individual screener if he/she wants you to see it. When I asked to see my bag during a shoe check at DFW, the screener threatened with the police. He gave up on that threat when I thought it would be a good idea to have them there. The the screener just stood there until I could see my bag again, but it took about a minute.
The answer from TSA, when I complained, was that "screeners are trained to observe several things". Talk about smoke screens.