AmyJo

would that it could glow in the dark

Exleftseat

This morning at IAH, E-Terminal. The great name game. Asked him if he could not see my name in the passport and on the boarding pass. He said, he could but I could have changed a picture or some other manipulation, so he insisted I would say my name. Fiddled around with him for about 5 minutes, then mangled up my last name and was let go. No one opted out besides Mrs. EX and I. Gate keeper announced that "this machine does not radiate, works with radio waves of only 10 percent strength one gets from a cellphone. At 39000 ft I would get a dose 100 times stronger". He was not upset when we still requested the Opt-out. Mrs. EX touching was not intense, she states, she is annoyed though by having the rubber gloves in her hair everytime. What does someone put in their hair? My guy decided to ask me before any action if I was o.k. That prolonged the whole ordeal substantially since he wouldn't start anything before I gave him the go ahead. This whole security is becoming more and more of a kindergarten situation, where are the grown-ups in this country???

RockyMtnScotsman

I've recently taken to the practice of telling the TSA clerk who instructs me to enter the NOS that my arm doesn't go that high (it will, but that's none of their business). Without fail they either route me through the WTMD or even bypass a screener altogether. I've had the molestation-check when opting out, but never have I been felt-up using this method.

cbn42

The last 2 patdowns I have received in the last week (one at SNA and one at SFO) have been rather cursory, I would say not much different from pre-AIT patdowns. Is this part of a larger trend where TSOs are starting to realize that the patdowns are unnecessary and inappropriate, and therefore getting them done with as quickly as possible, or was it just random luck on my part?

Himeno

All of my pat downs (JFK, BOS, SEA, DTW, LAX) before this last checkpoint (below) were cursory... though,

IAH A17-30 checkpoint, early morning

AA checked my bag through, but couldn't get the second boarding pass out. At least I can get that in the lounge in and don't have to deal with the TSA in ORD.

Directed to the premium line by the airport contractor. 3rd in line at the TDC. No name game. There were 7 TSOs working one MMW/WTMD combo. 1 working each the xray belt, 1 blocking the WTMD, 1 in front "informing" everyone, 1 on the xray belt moving items around (took my shoes out of the bin) and the rest milling about behind the MMW.
Opted out to the WMTD blocker, directed to stand by a chair about two steps behind me, then directed to the MMW again by the TSO in front. The blocker said I'd opted out, then both called for an assist. Another pax behind me also opted out.
Assist turned up in about 20 seconds and was let through the WTMD. My items were picked up and moved and gloves were changed without asking.
Wasn't asked if I'd had the pat down before, and they went through the whole speech. "Buttocks" and "Groin" were mentioned, but so was "Resistance". Pat down was the most involved I've had on this trip so far. Into pants, both front and back, and all the way up legs.

Only have DCA and ORD T5 left this trip on Sunday afternoon/night. (And twice through LHR...)

cynicAAl

this has been my experience as well, at least in the last 2 months. Opt out is treated as routine, not anything more sinister. The pat down is cursory, the last several haven't even touched my junk. They just go as high as mid thigh, once. They still do the waistband check (I usually unbutton my pants to make it easier for them), but haven't had my shirt collar checked in months. And nobody has once checked my socks or the bottoms of my feet.

Pesky Monkey

It depends on the airport. At DCA, they're very cursory. I just got back from Key West EYW last week. They've just recently gotten a cancer box (ruining the quick process that this airport used to have). The opt-out rub down I got was the most invasive one I've ever had. I was wearing shorts and a snug t-shirt and couldn't have possibly been hiding anything nefarious. Presumably the groper had just recently been trained and hasn't learned which parts he can skip, such as feeling around the non-existent collar of my shirt.

okazon69

This week at SFO, the patdown was rather comical and less intrusive than most. The guy engaged me in conversation about my pants, cuffs vs. no cuffs, pleats vs. no pleats, and I played along nicely as it was a welcome change from the usual.

At LAX, however, the patdown was a full-blown hard-grinding massage, with multiple jabs to the resistance. At least he changed his gloves beforehand without prompting.

In both cases, nobody bothered to check my belt (which I had taken off) to see if I didn't perhaps have a steel cable inside, nor the soles of my feet for that pesky hidden ceramic knife.

Oh well.

And my NEXUS card was accepted by both TDCs without even blinking. Perhaps the PreCheck education is working.

KDS

It's been my experience that the patdown and screening process is very intense, belligerent, accusatory, and prone to false ETD results that lead to secondary screening for airports that newly install one of the "new-fangled" machines (MMW). Most of my worst encounters with TSA have occurred under these circumstances.

This attitude seems to subside after about 6 months. I believe what we observe is this:

-- Wow, we now have a neato electronic device that will let us stop terrorists from coming through our checkpoint!

-- Wait a minute, this person is opting out of our neato electronic device..... this person must be a terrorist who doesn't want to be caught. Ergo, we must find a positive result to prove our conclusion.

(after hundreds of opt outs and never finding a terrorist, and discovering that the opt outers keep opting out and are not intimidated into using the neato electronic device)

-- Ho hum, an opt out person... crud, I don't like doing patdowns, so let's get this over with as fast as we can.

KenTarmac

LOL Now that's funny. ^

Leaving MSY on Tuesday. I got a very, very quick grope; the groper obviously knew I wasn't new to the game. He was more interested in checking my bag, which I carry a large (1.5Tb) external HD in; I hadn't removed it from my carry case along with my laptop. I was very impressed with the efficiency and expediency with which he handled my search. I was done and on my way in well under 5 min.

MSPGabe

Just had to Opt Out in PWM. Was told even with the PWM SIDA Badge, if I wasn't working, I had to go through the MMW. This flies contrary to everything I've been told and experienced, but whatever.

Quickest patdown ever. In total took less than 60 seconds. I told the 3-striper, who I know very well, that I knew the drill and he didn't do the spiel. Patdown didn't get above mid-thigh, no waistband check, etc.

cottonmather0

Went through PSP the other night and ended up getting a trainee doing my grope with another clerk looking on. It wasn't entirely rough, but he was very thorough and certainly a little nervous. At one point the trainee tried to make some small talk by asking me where I was "headed to". I said "to get on a plane" and he was flummoxed.

Overall though, it wasn't a bad experience. The Palm Springs airport is kind of cool with the outdoor concourses and all of the TSA personnel that I interacted with were rather polite and pleasant.

Fredd

Cute and still nicer than "What you do you have in mind?" accompanied by a big wink.

Wollstonecraft

DTW last week. For the first time ever, the guy behind me opted out, too. Total surprise. He had his GE card in hand but it didn't help of course, and the clerk had no idea what it was. Clerk looked at it closely and asked, "what is this?" This speaks poorly to training, or maybe just DTW.

Anyway, my new buddy and I waited about 5 minutes to call for assists, during which time we commented on the process and had to fuss to remain in view of our things. For the first time, I got a long spiel about how safe the (MMW) machine was, doesn't emit radiation or show body image, etc. Don't care. Pat down was thorough, clerk kept saying they would "tug at my waistband" and did so. A little kid sat and watched closely during the entire patdown, and I waved occasionally.

Nothing out of the ordinary, but I was happy to have an opt-out buddy there. This literally has never happened to me before.

cottonmather0

I've been getting this a lot lately, too. And if I argue back or try to dismiss their attempts at persuasion, they tend to get really touchy and aggravated.

I guess they think that I wouldn't mind posing like a thug being held at gunpoint so long as there's no radiation risk, so since I still refuse it must be because I have insufficient respect for their authoritah... which is actually true.