MrsMountaineer

Hey all- newbie here. Haven't flown since 2010 pre nudiescan. This time I am traveling with my husband, 8 year old daughter and 21 month old son.

Any tips as far as security goes? Will they attempt to Make us submit to the strip search? Reading a lot of horror stories- and I'm afraid. Flying Delta if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance for all your help.

studentff

Welcome to FT. You'll get lots of advice, but mine is that you probably will not have any issues as long as the four of you are very clearly traveling together and you go to a checkpoint lane that has the old walk through metal detector (WTMD), even if the WTMD is roped off and everyone is being sent through an adjacent nude-o-scope (NoS).

Anecdotal evidence is that children under 12 and adults traveling with them are being sent through the WTMD rather than the NoS, partly in an effort by TSA to reduce bad publicity.

coachrowsey

I agree with the above post & in no way defending TSA but imo Clt does have a fairly good group of tso's.

On a side note all checkpoints will now have "nude o scopes" C is closed until Thurs when it re opens with the "scope"

MrsMountaineer

Thanks I'm a little bit relieved now. Just worried that I'd have to explain a freedom patdown to my 8 year old lol.. Hopefully it won't be an issue.

WillCAD

I don't want to panic you, but I do recommend that you be prepared for the worst, just in case.

The invasive pat-downs conducted by TSA are done for several reasons:

1) To 'resolve an anomaly' in a whole-body image scan or metal detector scan (i.e. to figure out what set off the scanner)
2) At the request of people who "opt out" of the whole body scan for privacy or health reasons
3) Any time a traveler is not able to stand up and walk through the metal detector, or stand still with their arms over their heads in the whole body imager, i.e. if they're elderly, handicapped, or in some form of poor health and can't walk or stand without leaning on something (note: canes, crutches, and other assistive devices are not allowed in the whole body image scanner)
5) At random, for no reason whatsoever, to "keep the terr'ists guessing"
6) As retaliation for against people who anger or annoy some TSOs

Since others have mentioned that your airport has switched over entirely to whole body image scanners, you should be prepared to go through them, unless you decide to opt out, in which case you'll get a pat-down. Your kids may or may not get pat downs if you opt out, and they probably won't if you don't opt out.

There was a case recently where a 4-year old was given a full pat down when she hugged her grandmother, who had not yet been cleared and was waiting to get a pat down. Official TSA policy is that children 12 and under who are not cleared, or who alarm the scanners, may be cleared by re-scanning, but this particular case did not follow that procedure.

You should prepare your 8-year old for the scan. She will have to go through the whole body image scan, on her own, without an adult in the machine with her. She will have to stand on the footprints, raise her arms above her head like a criminal, and stand still for about 5 seconds while the scanner takes its image. It's not usually difficult, unless a kid has some anxiety issues.

Odds are, you won't have any trouble. But if you do, stay calm, don't panic, don't get scared, don't get angry. Be calm, friendly, and firm. Start by asking for a TSM (transportation security manager); he's the Suit who is in charge at an airport, and one has to be on duty at all times when TSA is operating. If he doesn't give you satisfaction, ask for the AFSD (assistant federal security director) or the FSD (federal security director). Each airport only has one FSD, but may have several AFSDs, and they may not be on duty at any given time.

MrsMountaineer

What about my 21 month old? I know he won't hold still for a scan, and not sure if he'd walk through a WTMD if they even have ONE available. How do they perform a freedom grope on a baby? What counts as resistance? haha

sbbutler93

http://www.karmapanda.com/wp-content...010/02/wat.jpg

Well...this sucks....it's been a trusty ole checkpoint for 3+ years now

coachrowsey

I couldn't get a good look yesterday(lines were almost out the door) but it looked like the mmw or whatever the new one is called.

barbell

How could that possibly be?

TSA has told us time, and time, and time again that these whizbang new machines are faster than the "old", "less reliable" screening technologies.

Oh, wait, TSA lies. They lie all the time. I honestly don't think a single one of them could tell the truth.

CDKing

I have not seen a woman or man carrying a baby put through anything other than metal detector. Also your 8 year old's shoes stay on as well