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Whole Body Scanners Opt Out Stories [merged]

Whole Body Scanners Opt Out Stories [merged]

Old Jan 10, 2011, 5:06 am
  #841  
 
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Originally Posted by bajajoes
Can the Americans With Disabilities Act provide any help for dealing with tsa?

Seems like it should help but I am unfamiliar with it.
Don't they need to make reasonable accomodations with screening process?
The ADA protects your medical liquids and also requires the accommodate with things like orthopedic shoes and shoes for diabetics. If you can't raise your arms, it is an auto opt-out.
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 2:15 pm
  #842  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Monterey Bay Area
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Posts: 326
tsa Groper ID?

Originally Posted by Spiff
Don't forget to file a complaint if your "experience" exceeds 10 minutes for any reason whatsoever. This should be in addition to the complaint you file for a groping with no probable cause.

TSA Complaint Line: 1-866-289-9673

Be sure to name any TSA employee who delays you or gropes you.
__________________________________________________ _______________
When a person "opts out" but before the grope starts can I insist on their ID and badge#? If they ask what for I would tell them if I feel you did a good job I want to write an approval and if not I want to voice my comments.
Are you able to get this info upfront or can they say NO!
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 3:15 pm
  #843  
 
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Just got back to PHX from JFK. Flew US out of T7 (approx 830am). They had the NoS up and running but they were sending a good majority of us through the WTMD. No groping, or fondling for me. Just a quick walk through the WTMD and I was on my way.
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 4:12 pm
  #844  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Monterey Bay Area
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Posts: 326
Opt out with Excuses

Originally Posted by MikeMpls
On the other hand, a long-winded explanation will distract them longer.
__________________________________________________ _______________
When people opt out they are free to use any or no explanation but I feel that if I say I had juvenile arthritis, or arthritis, or a rotator cuff injury and could not lift or keep my arm(s) overhead it might generate sympathy rather than creating an agressive, possibly confrontational attitude with them(tsa).
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 4:15 pm
  #845  
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,967
Originally Posted by bajajoes
__________________________________________________ _______________
When people opt out they are free to use any or no explanation but I feel that if I say I had juvenile arthritis, or arthritis, or a rotator cuff injury and could not lift or keep my arm(s) overhead it might generate sympathy rather than creating an agressive, possibly confrontational attitude with them(tsa).
Are you speaking from personal experience? Most of the time I don't feel the need to share, but when I have the only sympathy I recall (and I don't want sympathy) was outside the US.

There appears to be a number of female TSOs who have a sadistic streak and offering up areas of pain seems to offer them an oppportunity.
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 5:14 pm
  #846  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
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Opt Out

Originally Posted by FoothillFlyer
LAX last Sunday night enroute to BNE out of T-4. Family of 5. We are steered to a non NOS line so I am relieved. Male TSO in the next (WBI) line directs my much too cute for her own good sixteen year old daughter to the NOS line. Female TSO then condescendly says to her, "Sweetie, just step right over here (the WBI)..." and begins to give her directions. Well trained daughter responds with "I am opting out!"

You may have heard the expression to have one's "jaw dropped," but that is exactly what happened to the TSO. But she (the TSO) recovered quickly, completed a very fast old style frisk and that was all. I also had both of my ten year old boys practice "opt out" but we did not get to see the effect of that.

Reviewing these threads I am still not sure whether Australia is using WBI and if so, whether opt out is in place but I will report upon leaving BNE next week unless someone else can enlighten me now.
__________________________________________________ _______________
My congratulations on your child. I wish I could have been there.
^ For what its worth I am also AA SJC Ramp Retired(CC Planner).
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 6:00 pm
  #847  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: RDU
Posts: 263
Originally Posted by RadioGirl
Very that you avoided the NoS but does that mean no one found the (Vaseline) oozy band-aid?

(And BTW, that's gotta be #1 in "things I never thought I'd say on the interwebs...")
ty so much. Next time I fly I'm going to put on a bandaid right on my beltline/wastband.

I'll think I'll position it such that it will come off when the TSA perfect puts and rubs around the wasteband, the bandaid will come off on their gloves.

Of course if asked, Ill calmly explain that it's to treat a herpies sore.
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Old Jan 10, 2011, 9:38 pm
  #848  
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 144
San Jose SJC 12/29

Was directed to the NoS and told the TSO there that I would not go through that **** machine. After some lack of coordination (you're supposed to call for a patdown...no, you are!...etc) another TSO came over and conducted a brief patdown. I didn't see him change his gloves and I honestly wasn't thinking about it....

....but I should have. Somehow, the machine that he used to test his gloves gave an alarm (btw., how is a normal passenger supposed to know if it's really an alarm or just the TSO pushing the test button?), so some more TSOs came over. They started walking toward some room and said something about private screening. I replied that I didn't trust them, and that I would not go into a room with them unless a LEO was present. LEO arrived shortly thereafter - he was really nice. I mentioned to him that all this was ridiculous and a waste of time and he agreed. He seemed very genuine and friendly.

After another more intrusive patdown, they tested the gloves again and of course there was no alarm this time. I did enjoy asking the LEO if I could now leave as I had had enough of the TSA thugs.

In retrospect, I should have made a criminal complaint for harassment against the TSO that conducted the 2nd patdown, but I was already running late.

Why do we pay for these clowns?
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Old Jan 11, 2011, 7:45 am
  #849  
 
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Originally Posted by Spiff
Don't forget to file a complaint if your "experience" exceeds 10 minutes for any reason whatsoever. This should be in addition to the complaint you file for a groping with no probable cause.

TSA Complaint Line: 1-866-289-9673

Be sure to name any TSA employee who delays you or gropes you.
I have never needed this number, but felt it was a good idea to put it in my phones memory. I think we all should put this number in our phone. The TSA is not going to give it to you at the checkpoint.
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Old Jan 11, 2011, 3:52 pm
  #850  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 120
Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
Not good PR for TSA when they harass people for opting-out.
The entire point of the molestations is to impose coercion to force you through the scanners. They are basically under orders to make your life miserable if you refuse to be obedient and have yourself irradiated.

Because they want you in the machines ... you won though ... they lost

Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
Interesting experience. First off, I wish these clerks would not be shouting nonsense about the backscatter producing less radiation than two or three minutes of flight time
This is a materially false claim they are making. The irradiator scanners utilize tuned "soft x-rays" that are specifically designed to intersect with molecules in your skin.

All x-rays are high energy and have the ability to knock atoms off of your molecules. There is no such thing as a "safe x-ray". You can get cancer from a single x-ray particle when it messes up your DNA and your cell replicates it becomes cancerous.

Now here is where the TSA is really lying. The soft x-rays that intersect with your body, well the overwhelming amount of these is blocked by the hull of a plane and these are the most dangerous cosmic radiation. Because the hull of the plane has similar densities as your body.

The x-rays that go through the hull of the plane also almost always go right through your body.

The scanner radiation specifically intersects with, blasts, and is absorbed by your body, this is how they make the images. It is utterly criminal that they are materially misrepresenting things in this manner. There is no comparison between flight cosmic radiation and the tuned x-rays in the scanner that are designed to collide with the molecules in your body.

Do not go through those machines!! Here is why:

1) The reason we can even opt-out is for liability reasons. When people start getting cancer, especially frequent fliers, the TSA is going to say "you could have opted-out, why didn't you?" as their legal defense.

2) They don't allow TSA agents to wear radiation badges, even if they buy themselves and hide them. If the machines are safe, why can't these people wear the badges?

3) The TSA was ordered by congress and is being sued to release the real xray dosage information for the machines and they've refused to. Why?

4) The machines themselves are capable of putting out up to 100,000 more radiation than being claimed and the radiation is variable. Because there are no controls or disclosure on how much you are exposed to, what is to stop some jack-... from sitting in his office and whiggling the knob and blasting you with radiation? Absolutely nothing.

5) The majority of the absorption of the radiation actually occurs in your head and is highly concentrated in your skin.

6) The TSA is not disclosing how it tests the safety of the machines against malfunction and John Hopkins has backed away from the TSA's claim that they said the machines are safe. If there is a malfunction in one of these machines or the scanner pauses or stops on your body and blasts you with concentrated xrays, your molecules and your DNA is going to melt and you are going to get cancer.

And ... under no circumstances should you -EVER- let children through or near these things. Because most of the radiation is absorbed in the head, children have very thin skulls and their brain will absorb almost all of it. Children's bodies are undergoing very rapid cellular division and under a lot of growth stress (the reason good nutrition is very important for kids ... bad nutrition can leave them without sufficient building blocks to grow). The slightest screw up in these DNA/RNA replication sequences can become cancerous.

People think they are safer than dental xrays/etc. But consider this ... the radiation in these machines is tuned to intersect your soft tissue whereas bone xrays are tuned to intersect bone. The majority of "hard xray"s that intersect bone go right through your body or hit the calcium deposits in the bones (less organic).

These TSA xray machines are specifically designed to intersect with your soft tissues which are at the highest risk of developing cancer.

The bottom line here is that these machines -are not safe- and the TSA is lying about it, but they know that if you get cancer from them you'll never be able to prove it and even if you can they will claim "you could have opted-out, its not our fault".

Don't go through those machines ... they aren't safe. They are only safe for the TSA because they know you won't be able to prove the lawsuit if you get cancer 20 years from now as a result of walking through these machines only once (it only takes one x-ray particle to ionize the right atom in your DNA, make the cell mutagenic, and you've got cancer).

Last edited by Kiwi Flyer; Jan 15, 2011 at 6:38 pm Reason: merge consecutive posts
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Old Jan 11, 2011, 4:12 pm
  #851  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Originally Posted by sba110
After another more intrusive patdown, they tested the gloves again and of course there was no alarm this time. I did enjoy asking the LEO if I could now leave as I had had enough of the TSA thugs.

In retrospect, I should have made a criminal complaint for harassment against the TSO that conducted the 2nd patdown, but I was already running late.

Why do we pay for these clowns?
Whoa.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Back this train up.

First off, sorry that you had to go through that.

This is the first report we've had of a FTer getting the Resolution Patdown.

Do you mind sharing with the class?

Originally Posted by sba110
Why do we pay for these clowns?
Why, you ask?

Because there are terrified, bed-wetting pansies on this earth who are appreciative that such things would be done to their own children.

I imagine based on just what you've posted already that it would call into question such a person's mental sanity.
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Old Jan 12, 2011, 9:41 am
  #852  
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
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That'll teach me to question the rules...

The TSA reports that hardly anybody ever gets patted down, yet here's an amazing statistic: Mrs. Fredd was patted down on the outbound leg of our recent SEA-IAD-MIA flights, for the sin of carrying thermos cups, as I posted here, and I received the same treatment yesterday morning at MIA.

It was very obvious that there was a magnetometer on the left and the X-Ray scanner on the right so we stayed in the left line. I had everything on the conveyor belt when the TSA employee instructed me to remove my wallet and place it on the belt.

I had the effrontery to mention that this was a new policy. No, it's always been that way. I dared to reply that it wasn't. Oh, yes it was "in Miami." I then said that perhaps MIA was unique.

Off to screening for me.

Oh, and could someone please remind me why we have to hold our hands palm-up as we strike the cross-like pose? That could be quite a strain for some.

Last edited by Fredd; Jan 12, 2011 at 9:46 am Reason: question
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Old Jan 12, 2011, 10:45 am
  #853  
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Originally Posted by Fredd

Oh, and could someone please remind me why we have to hold our hands palm-up as we strike the cross-like pose? That could be quite a strain for some.
'Cause it takes more time for you to come down to slap the screener from that position? Certainly it can't be to make certain that you are not concealing something in your hand.

Another thought: when told to assume that position, you just say "sorry, no can do."
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Old Jan 12, 2011, 11:31 am
  #854  
 
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Originally Posted by doober
'Cause it takes more time for you to come down to slap the screener from that position? Certainly it can't be to make certain that you are not concealing something in your hand.

Another thought: when told to assume that position, you just say "sorry, no can do."
Oh, I think I've already learned my lesson about questioning authority, except that I'm a slow learner.

I won't admit that the fantasy of backhanding crossed my mind, since there are already more than enough free-speech-curtailing accusations of inciting violence through words floating around these days.
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Old Jan 12, 2011, 12:13 pm
  #855  
 
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Originally Posted by Fredd
...the TSA employee instructed me to remove my wallet and place it on the belt.
As a thought experiment, what would the reaction be if you handed the screener a piece of paper containing a form asking for their name, badge number or employee id, over a statement stating they were taking responsibility for your wallet and all contents, with a place for their signature. After which you trade the paper for your wallet, then vice versa at the other end, once you do an inventory.
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