RatherBeOnATrain

There are some jaw-dropping whoppers from TSA Public Affairs Manager Lorie Dankers in this pathetic article by Ed Kemmick regarding a new nude-o-scope at Billings (BIL):

Billings Gazette:
New body scanners installed at Billings airport
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 11:52 am

A short quote, highlighting the blatant lies:
After implying that the screening only takes "three seconds", the article goes on to claim:

txrus

Sure they will...

spd476

I wouldn't have a problem with the scanners if that was true. I'm more than happy to go through the metal detector. I'll even let them swab my hands.

I should print this article out and take it with me the next time I opt out. After all, Laurie Dankers of the TSA says I still can use the metal detector.

HawaiiTrvlr

I transitted 2 airports this past weekend (DEN and PDX). Both had only the NoS for screenings that were going full speed and people couldnt go through them fast enough. I felt sorry for them. I opted out both times. I am just trying to figure out why Pistole said the NoS wouldn't be the primary screening methods. I still don't trust the TSA's claim about radiation. Both my opt-out patdowns were relatively fast. Though the one screener in PDX included the word "business". For example, I am going to touch your buttocks and do the zipper business. Also I am going to do the leg business (implying he was going to patdown the inner parts of my legs).

Georgia Peach

"Any "anomalies" -- a tissue, a comb, a business card, anything at all -- show up on the body image as a yellow patch. Unlike the old metal detectors, which simply indicated the presence of metal somewhere on the body, the new scanners pinpoint where the anomaly is, so security agents can quickly determine what it is and get the passengers on their way, Dankers."

If the machines "pinpoint where the anomaly is", why the full gropes?

boatseller

--"TSA learned its lesson," she said.

Running through my Bureaucrat-to-English translation matrix:
"We have programmed ATR to randomly flag only a managable number of travellers. Of those we have trained our screeners to immediately clear the vast majority so as not to give any traveller a reason to complain."

Really, I can't remember the last time I saw someone get the isolated 'love pat'. They just walk out of the device directly to collect their belongings on the belt.

RxFlyer

In other news, "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia" said Lorie Dankers, the TSA's public affairs manager out of Seattle.

Superguy

Anyone else notice "opt out" signs are fewer and farther between? Didn't see a single one in SLC anymore. Don't remember at BWI.

tkey75

"Passengers who are unable to stand or to hold their arms over their heads, or who simply don't want to be scanned, will still be able to use the metal detector, Dankers said."

Still? Since when could I go through the WTMD and not have a grope?

halls120

ROTFL - how very true!

Pesky Monkey

Don't forget pockets when wearing cargo shorts. 100% fail followed by a grope.
That was my one and only experiment with the ATR.

cbn42

I think TSA Spokesperson Dankers is absolutely right, and therein lies the problem.

Every time I go to the airport, I see people lining up to go through the scanning machines. When I talk to people on the plane or at hotels, they are usually shocked that anyone actually opts out, if they are even aware of the option. This is true for both casual and frequent fliers, from all walks of life. TSA has done a great job of brainwashing people about terrorism, and therefore the scanners have been very well received.

loops

My Mother likes the new machines because she is ambulatory, has no problem assuming the position and has an implanted medical device which sets off the WTMD. For her, it is so much faster to use AIT (I don't think she has encountered many false positives or ATR yet). She doesn't like airports w/o the "new scanners" now because she "has" to have the pat-down. I for one cannot understand why she "has" to have the pat-down for setting off (or opting out of) the WTMD. Her condition is known and could easily be resolved, as it had been many times before AIT, with a hand-held metal detector. Why does she now "have" to be patted down? Huh? And why does ANYone who is not ambulatory or cannot assume the position now "have" to have a pat-down each and every time they hope to fly? Is there a good reason for this? Really?

RatherBeOnATrain

Here's an even bigger whopper:
Source:
KTVQ News:
Billings airport gets new body scanners
Posted: Mar 13, 2012

She said that after Jon released his video.

MissJoeyDFW

I fly out of Seattle 2 or 3 times a month and have for the last year and a half. The thing I have noticed in Seattle majority of my treks through SEA security no one within eyesight of myself is opting out except me. I usually fly back on the 6 or 7 AM flight on Thursdays or Fridays to DFW. I rarely see anyone opting out in SEA, I see people opt out at DFW all the time. I am in the American Airlines priority line in SEA, I usually wind up somewhere from a middle to far left line in that security area. I always opt out indicating I have had a torn rotator cuff and am waved to the WMD or get a secondary screen. It is has never been a big deal opting out for me at SEA. Maybe I am just not at the airport at the same time as savvy FTers who are probably opting out in another terminal or another time. I did miss the Seattle opt out day in 2010 by one day so I know they do have some awareness of it there, maybe they don't care?

I guess they can say it is well received if few are opting out!