Originally Posted by bambi47
I respect your right to your opinion. But having worked for the TSA for over 3 years what your suggesting will only give this poor woman grief. Asking for a pat down and not having to announce to everyone what is wrong may make it a little bit easier for her. I'm not trying to take a stand or prove a point. I'm trying to give her the advice that is best for her.
I agree that asking for a pat down is likely to be the lowest stress approach for OP's mom - and that is probably what OP was really looking for.
However, I really don't think that someone should have to ask for a pat down if they are not going to alarm and just can't take off their shoes. And if they ask the loader for the pat down they will likely have to explain things with more people around than talking one-on-one to the WTMD screener.
I didn't realize that you were TSA... are you saying that it is TSA policy to subject people with medical conditions that require them to not take off their shoes to get a full secondary screening if they don't alarm because they ignore the loader who is lying to them that they "must" take off their shoes?