how'd you folks know i was gonna chime in....
yup

never had to show one and in fact, where i am "technically disabled" as i don't have to ever wear dress shoes again as i need walking shoes for the support, the minute i "get the note", i have to declare on everything and anything that i am disabled and that's something i prefer not to do

i do wear "walking shoes" since my ankle surgery. black brown & white with big (and i do mean big) thick soles. when told (yes, told) to remove my shoes, i simple tell the gatekeeper that i am wearing orthotics. only once have i had to give the definition of orthotics tho on several occasions, have i had to describe what they were made of ^. i do not alarm and take my secondary "with no alarm" (shoe swab and sometimes hand swipe) but have had to remind the gatekeeper on a few occasions to tell the screener that i did not alarm.

i have been asked if i can take my shoes off while sitting so they can be x-rayed ("cutesy" screener tactic to pump info out of me) and i simply say "no, i cannot take my shoes off my shoes and/or stand and/or or walk without great difficuclty (the truth) and that usually solves the issue.

however on one occasion i did have to pull this out of my bag (see page 3): http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/special_needs_memo.pdf. actually had the supervisor take it out (in the presence of the screener and a cop [my request as it was getting ugly]) as remember we can't touch our bags during the screening process as we all have to good sheep howver the tsa memo put and end to the foolishness in about 6 seconds.

n.b. the tsa website is a problem child w/safari so use firefox

I keep the above memo with me, but haven't had to produce it yet, nor a doctor's note (don't carry one, but have been asked on occasion). Any questions about my condition are squashed fairly quickly with "I'd be more than happy to discuss my condition with you when I can see your license to practice medicine in your state".

I did have some punk supervisor at DCA decide to give me a full secondary last week, even though I didn't alarm. Most of the time it's just a swab and I'm on my way. I filed a complaint against said punk.

I always bring a pair of clean socks, but I actually change them just before landing.

No one should have to do that.

I do that because, in long haul flights, I always take my shoes off and walk around with socks only. Aircraft floor is dirty, so I change into clean socks upon arrival. I do it since long before the shoe bomber came up.

Ok, that makes sense. I thought you were saying that you did that in response to the shoe carnival.

shower caps from hotels work nicely.

Quite the opposite, I just point out that people seem to fixate on certain issues when they're quite obliging of fairly similar issues...

Take meat - most meat is irradiated to kill bacteria - and yet they ask if the x-ray will harm their food when it's not even powerful enough to penetrate a book? Albiet a thick book, but none the less...

Last month flying through ORD on Delta (Terminal 3), clean booties were provided (by Delta or TSA?) at screening for all passengers. Also a recepticle was provided to throw them away when you were putting your shoes back on. Any one else experiance this? Hope this is expanded.

DFW has had this for a very long time. I think they were among the first to start it. The booties are provided by TSA. I am surprised every time how few people use them. I have not seen anyone else but myself every time I've been throught there.

I noticed this morning that the elite line in C doesn't have them so I had to walk across the dirty floor in socks That's reason enough not to use the elite line again.

[QUOTE=Michelle2385;6805551]So, what would happen if I refused to join the �shoe carnival� the next time I fly? Would I really be grounded, or would they agree to swab my shoes instead? [QUOTE]

My personal experience in ORD: back in April, I was hugely pregnant and not about to bend over to untie my sneakers and then try to put them back on again after screening.

I explained to the screener that I'd really rather not remove my shoes, and why.

The screener waved me over to the side, where I got to sit down (a relief actually since we had been in line for awhile). They made me wait a few minutes as punishment, I guess. Then, I held up one foot, then the other, as she wanded and swabbed my shoes. I got the all-clear, and was free to go.

Frankly, I was surprised in all the travel I did when I was hugely pregnant, that nobody tried to pat-down my belly. Who knows what I could have been hiding in there.

While that still may work, since August, all shoes are required to come off unless you have a medical reason. So unfortunately, a data point from April is not as enlightening due to the change in rules.

Yep. Let's help out these brain-dead guards with their idiotic rules as much as we can. It IS OUR fault, after all. Let's see, now. What else can we put on our feet? Extra-large condoms? Rubber gloves?

Unbelievable! Enjoy these games, all. Keep writing. Hilarious!

Spiff
Be carefull of the lubricated ones.

Originally posted by kbins [/B][QUOTE=Frankly, I was surprised in all the travel I did when I was hugely pregnant, that nobody tried to pat-down my belly. Who knows what I could have been hiding in there. QUOTE]

So far, I've been fortunate in that I've never had to endure a secondary screening. But if I were pregnant and some TSA goon laid her mits on my belly, I'd make quite a scene. Come to think of it, I'd probably go balistic if I ever got patted down because I'm insanely ticklish! I'd probably sock her right in the jaw while flailing my arms and laughing hysterically.