Whole Body Scanners Opt Out Stories [merged]
Jul 10, 2012, 8:01 pm
#2776
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: KSUX
Posts: 906
Opted out at SMF on Saturday. Routine. Quick. Hated it. Even more so, I really dislike that I automatically thanked each TSO I encountered.
Returning from PHX yesterday, I was determined not to say a word I didn't have to, and I didn't. Waived through the metal detector and I was on my way.
Glad to be home but already dreading my next flight to PHX in Sept. I may have to move my 82 year old, ill mother to Sacramento.
Returning from PHX yesterday, I was determined not to say a word I didn't have to, and I didn't. Waived through the metal detector and I was on my way.
Glad to be home but already dreading my next flight to PHX in Sept. I may have to move my 82 year old, ill mother to Sacramento.
Jul 10, 2012, 10:04 pm
#2777
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,320
Today, we went through at TSA checkpoint in entire T2. We opt-out the body scanner. There is 3 or 4 people who went through the BKSX. instead, we went through the metal detector. We have no problem for us at all. TSA ask us to take it out the wallet. So I put the wallet in my bag. Also, we saw twins brothers who work for TSA and we didn't know it. It's unbelievable! It's look same and also, what happened the x-ray machine is down and they restart over it again. So now, it's working again. Just a little problem.
Jul 10, 2012, 10:23 pm
#2778
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,603
Had to opt-out in DEN this afternoon. All of the WTMDs were closed off, and the sheeple were lined up 6+ deep for the MMW. I went right up to the front of the WTMD, and the clerk tried to point me to the back. "Opt-out", and the clerk came around in less than a minute to perform the groping.
Asked him to change his gloves, to which he responded "Sir, we change them after every groping" Yeah, well tell that to your fellow clerks that go into the bathroom with their gloves on, and return to the checkpoint..
He then asked if I had done this before, to which I responded that I had, did not have any sensitive areas
, and did not want a private screening.
Not as thorough as some, but it was still pretty invasive
With all four NoS at the checkpoint being used, the wait for the general line was 250+ deep. Elite line went quickly, although it still took a while to get up to the x-ray..
Asked him to change his gloves, to which he responded "Sir, we change them after every groping" Yeah, well tell that to your fellow clerks that go into the bathroom with their gloves on, and return to the checkpoint..
He then asked if I had done this before, to which I responded that I had, did not have any sensitive areas
, and did not want a private screening.Not as thorough as some, but it was still pretty invasive
With all four NoS at the checkpoint being used, the wait for the general line was 250+ deep. Elite line went quickly, although it still took a while to get up to the x-ray..
Jul 11, 2012, 1:10 am
#2779
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: SYD (perenially), GVA (not in a long time)
Programs: QF PS, EK-Gold, Security Theatre Critic
Posts: 6,781
Did he really use the word "groping" or are you paraphrasing? Surprising (but promising) if he recognizes it for what it is.
Jul 11, 2012, 11:16 pm
#2781
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: AA Gold AAdvantage Elite, Rapids Reward
Posts: 38,320
Sorry! There is no pictures. You have go on www.photobucket.com and there is free of charge. You have upload the pictures. You can do it. It's easy for me and better than Facebook status. They won't let you go through.
Jul 11, 2012, 11:22 pm
#2782
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,603
Sorry! There is no pictures. You have go on www.photobucket.com and there is free of charge. You have upload the pictures. You can do it. It's easy for me and better than Facebook status. They won't let you go through.
Jul 13, 2012, 10:47 am
#2784
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Programs: AA EXP 3MM, FB Plat, AS Gold, Marriott Gold, Fairmont Plat, BA wannabe
Posts: 684
BOS today avoided the Backscatter machines
I can officially confirm that the "I can't raise my right arm over my head because of a rotator cuff injury" excuse works.
Jul 13, 2012, 11:09 am
#2785
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: HHonors:Gold,Marriot:Silver,United:Gold, Delta:Gold
Posts: 94
I am still trying to avoid these things at all costs, but today's circumstances led me to the machine.
* I was running late leaving my house today due to laundry issues
* I realized about half a mile from my house that I didn't have my wallet and I had to turn around and go back
* I hadn't printed my tickets at home (just checked in and printed to PDF)
* the Airtran kiosk takes 5 minutes to locate a PNR
All that transpired and I went to the C check point with about 30 minutes before scheduled boarding so I had a bit of time. The C check point had about 40 people in line while the D check point had 4 so the were urging people to go over there. Since I don't use the elite line while flying AirTran (whether the TDC would stop me or not is not something I'd like to waste time to find out) I decided to go to D. D is the farthest from AirTran, but all other checkpoints had about the same queue length as C.
I got in line at D and quickly noticed where the body scanner is. It is the second line from the left of 4 total lines. The left-most line was moving fastest so I entered it.
The lady in front of me was taking forever to clear the WTMD (belt, hitting the side, who knows) so while I was waiting behind her the lady manning the body scanner asks me if I have anything in my pockets thinking she means just things that would set of the WTMD I say "no" although I have my boarding passes and ID in my pockets. She then determines I should go through the nude-o-scope instead (why me? why not the lady who took 3 times to clear the WTMD???)
I politely said "I will not go through that thing"
She says I don't have to, but I will get a special screening. I have to wait for about 3 minutes for my special screener to arrive. In that time the lady manning the WTMD motions me through so I go through. The lady manning the body scanner (who had since closed it off anyway) asked me what I was doing. Well...your coworker let me through I thought, but instead I just made the VERY VALID claim that I was keeping an eye on my stuff since it had long since cleared the x-ray and I had no line of site from where they had me waiting.
Finally Officer arrives and explains front of hand, back of hand, etc. She was professional. I wasn't thinking and assumed a position not looking at my stuff and she quickly turned me around so I could watch my stuff. She told me right away that I had the right to request a private screening. Heck no! If you are going to grope me I'd prefer to be where I have witnesses if I need them. She was thorough but not inappropriate so it wasn't an issue. There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but since I was approaching 15 minutes before boarding and I had to walk to the opposite end of CLT I didn't say anything. The screening ended after massaging my feet (do the body scanners really see the bottoms of my feet? If not then why are you touching my feet) and taking one of the explosive detecting wipes to my ID, BP, and officer's gloves. I came out clean and they let me go.
I wish I had remembered the name of the lady who pulled me aside and forced me through the ordeal. I paid attention to the TDC and the secondary screener, but missed the other lady's name. Her ego was crushed when I didn't want to play her game and even though she shut her machine down and I cleared the WTMD without an event I still needed to waste 2 officers' time with my secondary.
* I was running late leaving my house today due to laundry issues
* I realized about half a mile from my house that I didn't have my wallet and I had to turn around and go back
* I hadn't printed my tickets at home (just checked in and printed to PDF)
* the Airtran kiosk takes 5 minutes to locate a PNR
All that transpired and I went to the C check point with about 30 minutes before scheduled boarding so I had a bit of time. The C check point had about 40 people in line while the D check point had 4 so the were urging people to go over there. Since I don't use the elite line while flying AirTran (whether the TDC would stop me or not is not something I'd like to waste time to find out) I decided to go to D. D is the farthest from AirTran, but all other checkpoints had about the same queue length as C.
I got in line at D and quickly noticed where the body scanner is. It is the second line from the left of 4 total lines. The left-most line was moving fastest so I entered it.
The lady in front of me was taking forever to clear the WTMD (belt, hitting the side, who knows) so while I was waiting behind her the lady manning the body scanner asks me if I have anything in my pockets thinking she means just things that would set of the WTMD I say "no" although I have my boarding passes and ID in my pockets. She then determines I should go through the nude-o-scope instead (why me? why not the lady who took 3 times to clear the WTMD???)
I politely said "I will not go through that thing"
She says I don't have to, but I will get a special screening. I have to wait for about 3 minutes for my special screener to arrive. In that time the lady manning the WTMD motions me through so I go through. The lady manning the body scanner (who had since closed it off anyway) asked me what I was doing. Well...your coworker let me through I thought, but instead I just made the VERY VALID claim that I was keeping an eye on my stuff since it had long since cleared the x-ray and I had no line of site from where they had me waiting.
Finally Officer arrives and explains front of hand, back of hand, etc. She was professional. I wasn't thinking and assumed a position not looking at my stuff and she quickly turned me around so I could watch my stuff. She told me right away that I had the right to request a private screening. Heck no! If you are going to grope me I'd prefer to be where I have witnesses if I need them. She was thorough but not inappropriate so it wasn't an issue. There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but since I was approaching 15 minutes before boarding and I had to walk to the opposite end of CLT I didn't say anything. The screening ended after massaging my feet (do the body scanners really see the bottoms of my feet? If not then why are you touching my feet) and taking one of the explosive detecting wipes to my ID, BP, and officer's gloves. I came out clean and they let me go.
I wish I had remembered the name of the lady who pulled me aside and forced me through the ordeal. I paid attention to the TDC and the secondary screener, but missed the other lady's name. Her ego was crushed when I didn't want to play her game and even though she shut her machine down and I cleared the WTMD without an event I still needed to waste 2 officers' time with my secondary.
I don't usually get an attitude about opting out, just mostly guys who don't want to do it.
Also don't go through checkpoint C. They recently got remodelled and its a bit screwed up. Shame they put in more body scanners in the last year.
Jul 13, 2012, 1:55 pm
#2786
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,603
Jul 13, 2012, 2:58 pm
#2787
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,198
Jul 13, 2012, 9:31 pm
#2789
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Programs: AA EXP 3MM, FB Plat, AS Gold, Marriott Gold, Fairmont Plat, BA wannabe
Posts: 684
Jul 14, 2012, 10:11 pm
#2790
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: PIT
Programs: UA GS, AA EXP, Amex Plat
Posts: 314
Had my first opt out in a very long time today. At some point my luck of getting waved through the WTMD only had to run out. It happened today at JFK T8.
I've got to say the TSO was very polite and the procedure was done quickly and professionally. Having never opted out at JFK before, I was impressed.
I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday and the lines were small, but the whole TSA attitude at T8 seemed to me a lot more laid back than what I'm used to seeing at EWR.
I've got to say the TSO was very polite and the procedure was done quickly and professionally. Having never opted out at JFK before, I was impressed.
I don't know if it was because it was a Saturday and the lines were small, but the whole TSA attitude at T8 seemed to me a lot more laid back than what I'm used to seeing at EWR.