Himeno

Just went through DCA. Much the same as other recent reports here. Though they did like saying "resistance" and "back of hands".

How is using the back of their hands any better then using their palms?

One more trip through TSA left this trip, in a few hours when I connect to ORD T5.

tanja

most foreigenrs will not understand /know the word "resistance..that is the not a word we did not learn in english class.

We learn BODY. Rest is the "slang" words. Anything apart from that most of "non born english speaking people is very LIMITED

TheRoadie

Presumably fewer feeling receptors per sq. cm. is supposed to make us feel like when they accidentally brush our genitals that they won't get a good tactile image of the scrotal texture.

For all I know, fingertip genital contact is such a grossout to the screeners that THEY demanded the back of the hand procedure. Wouldn't that be a hoot to have been in on the first meeting of the local management and their staff. "Say WHAT is this frack?!?!?!?!?!"

Carl Johnson

I have SDOO'd or Pre-checked since June or July, but when I opt out I say either "those things cause brain damage" or "those things cause obesity" or both, depending on the clerk.

Himeno

Went through ORD T5. Lines to BKSX lanes backed up right back to TDCs, so they opened the WTMD lanes and was then directed to that.

Only issue I had was a trainee on the baggage xray and a few slow pax.

KenTarmac

Today at IAH I got the most informal grope I've ever had. After telling the guy running the NOS that I was opting out I got the canned "You know we've switched to MMW and there's no more radiation" speech. I just nodded my head agreeingly.

So then I'm through the metal detector and on to meet my groper - a cool young black kid who was talking football with his buddy. He was like, come here guy. You done this before right? I said yup, he pulled my stuff aside from the x-ray conveyor, said stand here, raise your arms and we were off to the groping. No would you like a private screening, no I'm gonna use the back of my hands on the "sensitive areas", no do you have any medical implants or conditions, etc. the whole time he was patting me down he was talking to his buddy I had to laugh along with them.. It was by far the most informal grope I've ever had; and if a grope could be such a thing - dare I say - enjoyable because he and his buddy had me laughing along with them.

Now, having said that, he was thorough and covered all the "bases" and I was on my way.

dan1431

Last time opting out at IAH, my Father's, male assist barely patted him down, essentially he checked the pockets of his cargo shorts and then his socks (a tad odd buy hey what do I know?) and then sort of brushed his arms and said have a nice flight, He was actually through security faster than I was using PRE-checka by opting out.

Go Figure

Dan

TheGolfWidow

When a screener puts the back of his hand up into the area they like to refer to as your "resistance"...the front of his hands (you know, his finger pads -- that part of the body with a massive amount of nerve endings?) are on your genitals.

They should be careful what they wish for....

SocialAdept

Has anything changed with pat-downs/opt-outs in the last few months?

I visited the US on vacation for the first time in about a year two weeks ago or so. Me and my GF went through the Scope at PBI. I didn't care either way for my part but because my GF is pregnant I told the staff that she should opt out. The response was that the new scopes are non-interfering and opt-outs are no longer in use. I was puzzled by this, but since I wasn't read up and we were late (Hertz checkout was a mess) I didn't want to argue at the risk of delaying us further so in we both went.

cottonmather0

You can still opt-out, but as has been discussed a lot here lately, TSA has been trying really hard to convince passengers that opting out is no longer necessary because the machines are "safer." My guess is that this was what they were doing with you and that something might have been misunderstod due to language differences.

Then again, although I haven't heard of TSA now refusing to allow opt-outs, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me if this is indeed what happened and they simply lied to you to move the process along.

mikeef

SDOO'd at LGA yesterday but was re-directed to NoS. Went through the gate and started unloading the stuff from my pockets in preparation for them to send my wallet et al back through the x-ray. My groper didn't realize that the stuff that had been in my pockets and was now in my hands hadn't been scanned, so he just let me put it with my belongings in a bin.

We chatted about the Celtics while he gave me a cursory patdown.

Mike

InkUnderNails

It's not. The reason below is my WAG as to why.

The opt out grope is in public view, and photos taken of the process will show the back-of-the-hand touching. This has a much lower appearance of impropriety than the front of the hand check.

It is the primary reason that the resolution grope, which uses the front of the hand, must be done in private.

It is all to prevent photos and videos that shine on bad light on their practices.

The front-of-hand-check is more likely to "feel" anomalies and is a better (as in more accurate) check. Rather than go to the trouble and he extra work to do every pat down in private, they use a substandard method because it looks better.

chollie

Exactly right (as usual).

Largely at the insistence of the US government, I have gotten patted down (as opposed to groped or frisked) at certain overseas airports. These are universally open palm 'pats' (actually, more like open-palms skimming over the body like a feather).

Never had hands inside my pants, between my legs, in my hair, on my face, down my collar. But because they aren't doing these things, they don't have to worry about doing it in a public place.

WChou

Been a while since I've posted an opt-out tale but it still does make a difference. Had a good 2 month streak of SDOOs but this ended at the Terminal 4 C gate checkpoint at PHX. Just as I cleared the TDC, the WTMD closed and all pax directed to the backscatter. Come my turn I opt-out and immediately the woman behind me does the same. Soon two others joined in. As we stood around waiting for the one-striper, three others opted out as well. One of the later opt-outs explained to a women why we were opting out and soon yet another person joined. We all got the express patdown as the x-ray belt started getting seriously backed as we got our preflight massage. Not a good day to be on pecker checker duty. They had their hands full so to speak.

FearFree

Its great to hear more stories of opt-out companions. In the last few days I have had read multiple reports of opt-outers having others opt-out at the same time, and it is a refreshing change from the standard "it took 10 minutes for the (fe)male assist to show up, and I was the only opt-out in that time."

Even more encouraging when you get to overhear, or be the one, explaining to others about the opt out process.