How to respond...
 

A friend who is supposed to travel to Madrid this week asked me tonight: "I am furious. I have the choice of rape by someone looking at my body, or rape by them abusing my privates. Can I cancel the trip for a refund?"

Tough to respond to that. She'll be calling the staffers at her elected representatives tomorrow to ask that very question.

If she does the double opt-out, she may get a full refund from the airline.

There have been reported posted here that airlines are giving refunds.

There have been reports on FT of people getting refunds. If it's not an essential trip, it might make sense for her to contact the airline and see whether they'll give her at least a partial refund

It sort of makes sense for them to be flexible, especially if they're convinced a passenger really doesn't want to fly. If the passenger balks at security after their checked bags have been sent through the system, they'll no-show the flight and the bags will have to be offloaded (which is a hassle for them). And they don't really want to deal with a passenger who is frightened and crying from violation and humiliation on a flight.

And I suspect that the airlines hope to use data about this to push back on TSA as much as they can - even if they refund some cheap vacation fares. I'm sure they realize the long term risk to their viability if business travelers pull back significantly.

She has a $1500 prepaid hotel in Europe. The hotel is not amenable to a refund.

I'm not quite sure what the question is supposed to be then? In general, it's a good idea for her to contact her congresspersons.

But I don't understand how this will help with an airfare refund, even though reported experience seems to be that it's worth a shot. (I think FTer barbell has even offered to help folks with this.)

But I'm sure that hotels in Europe have never heard of TSA and that her congressperson certainly isn't going to be able to help her get a refund there anyhow.

Perhaps depending on where she lives, she could ditch the US ticket and try to get a flight from Mexico or Canada. Otherwise, I guess she has to decide what $1500 is worth.