Whole Body Scanners Opt Out Stories [merged]
Nov 23, 2010, 11:13 am
#751
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Winter Garden, FL
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Ask your sister if she'll allow the TSA thugs to inspect her body cavities -- she has some, I know she does -- to ensure that she hasn't hidden something dangerous in there. Let's put this "anything for security" attitude to the real test. Remind her that suicide bombers wouldn't hesitate to hide bombs within their bodies, and the naked scanners are unable to see inside of people. So...let us know how the conversation turns out.
Bruce
Bruce
Nov 23, 2010, 11:32 am
#752
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: here and there
Programs: EB*G, UA ex1K
Posts: 570
Hi everyone - and thanks so much for being such a welcoming place. I felt better having just told my story. To have it met with such empathy is refreshing. I posted this story, in a shorter version, on another blog, and got ripped to shreds and told we were "sniveling whiners", and various combinations of "flying is a privilege, not a right; if you don't like it don't fly; they're just doing their job; quitcher .....in". Etc. etc.
It's useful to significantly reducing your air travel and contacting airline (and other convention/tourism agencies) to let them know why.
You also need to contact your representatives ( senators and representative .
You should also support the efforts of large real-world organizations such as the
ACLU and their EPIC and look up who owns your local airport (it's usually a state, county or city agency) and contact them, as well.
You can also contact state and local officials and request that they push back against TSA (this is already happening in NJ and NYC, for example).
Nov 23, 2010, 11:50 am
#753
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
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Posts: 42,192
Hi everyone - and thanks so much for being such a welcoming place. I felt better having just told my story. To have it met with such empathy is refreshing. I posted this story, in a shorter version, on another blog, and got ripped to shreds and told we were "sniveling whiners", and various combinations of "flying is a privilege, not a right; if you don't like it don't fly; they're just doing their job; quitcher .....in". Etc. etc....
Nov 23, 2010, 12:11 pm
#754
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: HPN
Programs: not anymore! I'm FREE!
Posts: 3,459
He ran the backs of his hands up both legs until they pressed against my testicles, and palpated my buttocks and rectal area. He penetrated the waistband of my pants two to three inches, feeling around, and brushed his hand firmly across my pubic zone, encountering my penis.
He did mention that there has to be sexual intent, but how could that ever be proved or disproved?
Nov 23, 2010, 1:01 pm
#755
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 438
Well, unfortunately things did not go as well as I thought. I just talked to Mom, and more details emerged. She didn't want to share them while in the car with my daughter.
When she was pulled away for the grope, she says she started to tell the woman doing the groping that her right breast is still very tender and has healing surgical wounds on it, but the woman actually put her hand up in front of my mother’s face, as if to signal her to shut up! My mother, terrified of another horrible experience, quickly did just that – she shut up.
I find this shocking, given what recently happened to the man with the urostomy bag. Even with all that publicity, including a phone call from John Pistole to the man to apologize, is it STILL not understood by TSA agents that they need to allow their victims to tell them about their medical issues???
The agent used the back of her hand to press in and circle the entire exterior of each breast – including the sore one. Sure enough, it hurt. But my mother didn’t say a word – just stood there wincing and took it. Because she wants to see her grandkids.
When the TSA agent did the inner-thigh rub, and got up to the point where her hand “met resistance” (yeah, a lovely euphemism for “touched her labia”), she apparently noticed that my mother was wearing an adult diaper. She asked her what she had “in her pants” – loud enough for others around her to hear. My mother quietly replied, “a Depends”. “A what?” asked the TSA agent. “A…a diaper!” my mother said, feeling humiliated.
The agent made her lift her shirt to SHOW her the top of her diaper. All I can say is, thank God it was the full brief-type, rather than a pad. Would the agent have asked her to pull her pants down to show it to her??
Then she ran her gloved fingers all along the inside of her diaper, while my mother stood there holding her shirt up, for all the other passengers to see her 73-year-old bare midriff. At this point she regretted not asking for a private room, but it was too late – it was almost over. (Plus I'd told her NOT to ask for a private room, because I didn't want my mother being molested where she couldn't be seen.)
So much for being allowed to maintain your dignity.
Anyone who thinks this is okay is sick. This is NOT what my soldier son is fighting for. I’m ashamed to be an American today, if this is what our government thinks is acceptable treatment of our senior citizens. My mother has been a patriot and a good citizen for her entire life. She's never had so much as a speeding ticket. She's voted in every election she was qualified to vote in. She married a veteran of the Korean war (my dad), gave birth to a son who served in the Air Force (my brother), and has a grandson currently in the Army (my son). She goes to church, gives to the needy, and supports herself without government handouts. And THIS is what our government subjects her to - just so she can go spend Thanksgiving with her family?
I'm so angry I can hardly see straight.
I am an activist by nature. I spent Saturdays standing in the rain holding "No on Prop H8" signs during the last election. I write regular letters to the editor for the issues which are important to me. I am not someone known to "keep my mouth shut". 
Trust me, I absolutely will do my part. I have letters already drafted. Thanks for providing additional information for places to protest. I promise you I will use them. My mother wants to be left out of it - and I understand. But I will not remain silent.
When she was pulled away for the grope, she says she started to tell the woman doing the groping that her right breast is still very tender and has healing surgical wounds on it, but the woman actually put her hand up in front of my mother’s face, as if to signal her to shut up! My mother, terrified of another horrible experience, quickly did just that – she shut up.
I find this shocking, given what recently happened to the man with the urostomy bag. Even with all that publicity, including a phone call from John Pistole to the man to apologize, is it STILL not understood by TSA agents that they need to allow their victims to tell them about their medical issues???
The agent used the back of her hand to press in and circle the entire exterior of each breast – including the sore one. Sure enough, it hurt. But my mother didn’t say a word – just stood there wincing and took it. Because she wants to see her grandkids.
When the TSA agent did the inner-thigh rub, and got up to the point where her hand “met resistance” (yeah, a lovely euphemism for “touched her labia”), she apparently noticed that my mother was wearing an adult diaper. She asked her what she had “in her pants” – loud enough for others around her to hear. My mother quietly replied, “a Depends”. “A what?” asked the TSA agent. “A…a diaper!” my mother said, feeling humiliated.
The agent made her lift her shirt to SHOW her the top of her diaper. All I can say is, thank God it was the full brief-type, rather than a pad. Would the agent have asked her to pull her pants down to show it to her??
Then she ran her gloved fingers all along the inside of her diaper, while my mother stood there holding her shirt up, for all the other passengers to see her 73-year-old bare midriff. At this point she regretted not asking for a private room, but it was too late – it was almost over. (Plus I'd told her NOT to ask for a private room, because I didn't want my mother being molested where she couldn't be seen.)
So much for being allowed to maintain your dignity.
Anyone who thinks this is okay is sick. This is NOT what my soldier son is fighting for. I’m ashamed to be an American today, if this is what our government thinks is acceptable treatment of our senior citizens. My mother has been a patriot and a good citizen for her entire life. She's never had so much as a speeding ticket. She's voted in every election she was qualified to vote in. She married a veteran of the Korean war (my dad), gave birth to a son who served in the Air Force (my brother), and has a grandson currently in the Army (my son). She goes to church, gives to the needy, and supports herself without government handouts. And THIS is what our government subjects her to - just so she can go spend Thanksgiving with her family?
I'm so angry I can hardly see straight.
Um. Posting on flyertalk may have empathy, but it's otherwise completely useless. Way too many people pretend the internet is real life.
It's useful to significantly reducing your air travel and contacting airline (and other convention/tourism agencies) to let them know why.
You also need to contact your representatives ( senators and representative .
You should also support the efforts of large real-world organizations such as the
ACLU and their EPIC and look up who owns your local airport (it's usually a state, county or city agency) and contact them, as well.
You can also contact state and local officials and request that they push back against TSA (this is already happening in NJ and NYC, for example).
It's useful to significantly reducing your air travel and contacting airline (and other convention/tourism agencies) to let them know why.
You also need to contact your representatives ( senators and representative .
You should also support the efforts of large real-world organizations such as the
ACLU and their EPIC and look up who owns your local airport (it's usually a state, county or city agency) and contact them, as well.
You can also contact state and local officials and request that they push back against TSA (this is already happening in NJ and NYC, for example).
Trust me, I absolutely will do my part. I have letters already drafted. Thanks for providing additional information for places to protest. I promise you I will use them. My mother wants to be left out of it - and I understand. But I will not remain silent.
Nov 23, 2010, 1:04 pm
#756
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
LeeAnne, that is so wrong and I am so sorry, but it needs to be heard.
This is not the first time or the second time or the third time we have reports here of TSOs apparently pressing even harder on areas specifically pointed out as being sore spots, or injured.
On another website an elderly woman was apparently questioned about her incontinence pad and forced to remove it in the public screening area.
A word of warning that you will hear 'that didn't happen' from other posters. Most of us rationally know that things ARE happening, and that you and your mother are not lying or embellishing.
This is not the first time or the second time or the third time we have reports here of TSOs apparently pressing even harder on areas specifically pointed out as being sore spots, or injured.
On another website an elderly woman was apparently questioned about her incontinence pad and forced to remove it in the public screening area.
A word of warning that you will hear 'that didn't happen' from other posters. Most of us rationally know that things ARE happening, and that you and your mother are not lying or embellishing.
Nov 23, 2010, 1:34 pm
#758
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: PIT
Programs: Marriott Silver, Priority Club Platinum, Hilton Gold, Airline Peon (United, Delta, Southwest)
Posts: 335
Your mom is traumatized and I don't blame her for just trying to forget it. She probably also knows in her heart that the ONLY way that this abusive practice is going to end is for experiences like hers to be publicized.
As a senior citizen, she would probably be very effective telling others her story. Even if your mother does not want to publicize the experience, see if she could at least tell her to story to clueless "anything for safety" relatives and friends. These "anything for safety" folks need to understand the disconnect between the TSA talking points and what is really happening. SAFETY IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR ABUSE.
Nov 23, 2010, 6:35 pm
#759
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: Whatever's Cheapest, Accruing Miles, Redeeming for Premium Cabins, Not Chasing Status Unnecessarily
Posts: 2,264
I'd like to know the success rate of TSA personnel actually finding something when they do a patdown:
- first off during simulations when they know they are being tested, let alone:
- when faced with a line of angry, clueless holiday travelers and children, all while they are on the 2nd to last hour before their shift ends.
Using the back of your hands till you meet resistance seems hardly good enough to find anything, yet good enough to be creepy and invasive.
- first off during simulations when they know they are being tested, let alone:
- when faced with a line of angry, clueless holiday travelers and children, all while they are on the 2nd to last hour before their shift ends.
Using the back of your hands till you meet resistance seems hardly good enough to find anything, yet good enough to be creepy and invasive.
Nov 23, 2010, 6:50 pm
#760
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: AA ex-EXP (buh-bye!), HH Gold, SPG Gold, UM Go Blue
Posts: 543
AARP
On that note, AARP is literally one of the most powerful citizen lobbies out there (they effectively killed Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security), and this subject is on their radar screen:
http://www.aarp.org/travel/travel-ti...ner_facts.html
They are potentially strong advocates for the disabled and senior citizens, who are bearing some of the most humiliating aspects of the new procedures (both physical touching and the problems posed by backscatter). I think anyone who is over 60 can join and I strongly encourage any AARP member to get in touch with them and let them know how the new TSA policies are specifically detrimental to their members.
http://www.aarp.org/travel/travel-ti...ner_facts.html
They are potentially strong advocates for the disabled and senior citizens, who are bearing some of the most humiliating aspects of the new procedures (both physical touching and the problems posed by backscatter). I think anyone who is over 60 can join and I strongly encourage any AARP member to get in touch with them and let them know how the new TSA policies are specifically detrimental to their members.
Nov 24, 2010, 8:59 pm
#763
Join Date: Aug 2002
Programs: HH DIA
Posts: 73
LeeAnne, that is just wrong on so many levels. It's truly sickening. I'm disgusted and outraged how we are all perceived to be criminals now just by showing up at the airport. And in the case of people like your mom, who have medical conditions, how could that possibly be an invitation to squeeze/grope/feel harder the affected area? Yet somehow that makes sense in TSA Land.
I'm having a harder and harder time keeping my composure when I hear people say "it's for our safety." It's not. It's madness and stupidity with a touch of cruelty thrown in (depending on the TSA agent), and completely lacking in common sense. So our government screws up by ignoring the many red flags about the underwear bomber, including warnings from his own father, and now we all have to pay for that mistake. Some pay way more than others, like your poor mom, and some breeze through and say, "What's the big deal? It's for our safety."
It's not right on so many levels, and my heart goes out to your mom. Truly unbelievable, and enormously sad.
I'm having a harder and harder time keeping my composure when I hear people say "it's for our safety." It's not. It's madness and stupidity with a touch of cruelty thrown in (depending on the TSA agent), and completely lacking in common sense. So our government screws up by ignoring the many red flags about the underwear bomber, including warnings from his own father, and now we all have to pay for that mistake. Some pay way more than others, like your poor mom, and some breeze through and say, "What's the big deal? It's for our safety."
It's not right on so many levels, and my heart goes out to your mom. Truly unbelievable, and enormously sad.
Nov 24, 2010, 9:01 pm
#764
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
LeeAnne, that is just wrong on so many levels. It's truly sickening. I'm disgusted and outraged how we are all perceived to be criminals now just by showing up at the airport. And in the case of people like your mom, who have medical conditions, how could that possibly be an invitation to squeeze/grope/feel harder the affected area? Yet somehow that makes sense in TSA Land.
And AngryMiller reported being told to remove a dressing from a very recent surgery, which opens up a whole area of health concerns.
They attempted to remove a translucent surgical dressing (12 inch long fresh incision) from me because it alarmed with a hand wand at the gate. No problems with the WTMD. Complain and complain often.
Nov 24, 2010, 9:41 pm
#765
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Valley Springs, Ca USA;Proud Retired AAer SJC Ramp/ AA- 2 MM Platinum;Hilton Diamond
Posts: 851
In 24 years of working Thanksgiving Eve, I had never seen the airport this empty and the flights so light. It was an easy day UNTIL I had to get into my car and hit the Bay Area freeway system headed out of town (I live in the foothills). Total bumper to bumper gridlock all the way.