NotaCriminal

I pulled up my ticket from that trip, and I used Southwest, which uses C gates, so it must have been ABC. It was definitely the far right, and it was a 6:15 a.m. flight. We weren't directed into any particular line, so off to the WMTD I went. I guess I lucked out. I'll take it, I can't SDOO at my home airport.

redtigeriii

Thought so. Yeah, pretty much the only time I've heard of the WTMD only lanes being open at PDX are during the early morning when its most crowded. Later in the day there aren't any SDOO opportunities and its MMW only for the most part. But when the stand alone machine(s) are open its far right at ABC and far left at D/E. I'm glad you were able to get through the WTMD on your trip. Next time I fly I'm going to schedule a 6 am ish flight and see how it is for myself.

mizzou65201

I had a 7a departure from PDX earlier this week. All lanes were open at the D/E checkpoint including the far left WTMD only lane. Very easy to SDOO. Of course the WTMD beeped for "additional screening" but that only consisted of a very quick ETD of my hands.

redtigeriii

I appreciate the additional info. I prefer flights later in the day, but I'll make sure future trips are really early morning departures flying out of PDX to give myself more of a shot of not having to opt out. I did, however, fly out once last year and got into the security line a little before 8:30am at D/E and it was only body scanners in operation with a very few diverted to WTMD.

mybodyismyown

At MSY today, waits were 20 minutes and all WTMDs were roped off with all passengers being sent through the millimeter wave machines. I told the screener who was blocking the WTMD that I can't raise my arm above my head and he let me go through the metal detector.

My husband opted out and had to wait 10 more minutes for his groper. He passed the time berating the screeners at the doorway since they wouldn't let him proceed past the metal detector or scanner until his groper arrived. This meant he couldn't see his bags all that time. (though I kept my eye on them). When the male assist arrived, they brought my husband around the metal detector so he didn't go through either that or the MMW.

My husband gave his groper some grief about the wait, about the fact that the machines weren't properly tested in a peer-reviewed forum before being put into use. The screener said it was my husband's choice to opt out and "you could have been on your plane already". The patdown was purely pro-forma and skipped hands down the pants, didn't involve junk-touching. The screener seemed resigned to answer hostile questions without getting emotionally involved, and even hilariously said, "Yeah, yeah, 9/11," in a I'm-reciting-from-a-script-I-don't-believe fashion.

I was taking pictures with my phone camera throughout the process. Surprisingly, no one interfered with me as I snapped pictures. The groper said, "If you're putting those on the internet, I want royalties."

I answered, "Oh, I sincerely hope you get what's coming to you. And I mean that."

slh14

Interesting nobody gave you grief about taking pictures considering they say on their website as a part of the Q&A section:

Can I take personal pictures in the airport?
A: Personal pictures may be taken in the airport, however photographs of security operations and personnel are not allowed. This applies to the screening areas.

MSY and GPT used to be airports that I used before my boycott of air travel beginning in November, 2010.

KenTarmac

Where'd you get that Q&A from?

Here's what I found from a link on the homepage of Flyertalk under the Lucy Schulte story. Granted this link is from 2009 ...

http://blog.tsa.gov/2009/03/can-i-ta...point-and.html

Also see the following thread for a more in-depth discussion.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...irport-13.html

You also have the right to record per the following:

The right to record

Public officials in a public place can be recorded per the Federal appeals court

slh14

DOH! I should have been more specific and included the link. I was aware of TSA's policy regarding photographing/videotaping, which is why I brought it up.

I got the Q&A segment from the FAQ's portion of MSY's site. Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous" section.

http://www.flymsy.com/faqs#Q96

slh14

DOH! I should have been more specific and included the link. I was aware of TSA's policy regarding photographing/videotaping, which is why I brought it up.

I got the Q&A segment from the FAQ's portion of MSY's site. Scroll down to the "Miscellaneous" section.

http://www.flymsy.com/faqs#Q96

stifle

Airports are generally private property and can set their own rules. While violating them is not a crime, it can result in a person being no longer welcome on the premises and being escorted off.

FriendlySkies

Flew out of AUS on Sunday. They have three checkpoints, two of which have MMW and had their WTMDs roped off.. Naturally, the lines for both of those checkpoints were 20++ minutes.

Just as I was about to enter, I caught a glimpse of two WTMDs down by the Delta/AS ticket counters. There was no line, which made me think it was an employee lane, but minutes later, I was throughout without having any shoulder pain or having to opt-out.. Of course, as I walked past the MMW checkpoint, people who were waiting in line when I went through were still waiting to dump their items on the x-ray.

Somebody, please tell me how the MMW is faster than WTMD???

3Greyhounds

TPA terminal C, 7:00 am:

3 MMWs in service with WTMDs roped off. No SDOO possible, therefore had to use the medical card. Was cleared through the WTMD with no issues or additional questions.

WillCAD

I was under the impression that most American airports are owned by local or state government agencies. BWI, for example, is owned by the Maryland Aviation Administration, an agency of the state government. I know there are lots of smaller fields that are privately owned, but I thought most, if not all, of them were the general aviation type that cater to small private planes, as opposed to the commercial airports where airlines operate.

I may be off-base on this, however. Can someone enlighten me a bit?

InkUnderNails

The Nashville airport is as good an example as any. It was formed by the government, created by an act of the legislature, and its board is selected by the mayor and city council. Yet, it is independent from the government, or so they say.

The full story is here, but here is a quote that will give you an idea of the fan dance they do to keep the illusion alive:

Cay

I wonder if the BNA airport police (who write so many tickets there!) are Metro employees.