Some other people on this thread have pointed out that the there will be no $11,000 fines, and that the TSA, although they'll get royally pissed off at you, will still allow you to walk away if you double-opt-out. So it looks like my dance would be:

1 - I get selected for a Nude-O-Scope.
2 - I tell the TSO that I double-opt-out, and that I want to walk away.
3 - I get escorted away from the checkpoint and am told not to return.
4 - I return to the ticketing desk, explain my situation, ask them to return my checked baggage, and ask if a refund is possible. I always arrive at the airport 2 hours early, so hopefully, a baggage return wouldn't be too hard.
5 - Greyhound.

I happen to know for a fact that TLH has no Nude-O-Scopes--it's 16 miles from my house, and I just picked up my wife there a few weeks ago. Considering that the mayor is at the airport for a photo-op every time another airline cons the City into a "revenue guarantee" for something like one flight per day, I wonder what his reaction would be to Nude-O-Scopes.

The July trip to EYW would be pure personal pleasure, so no big deal if I miss that altogether. The August trip to MHT will be for my cousin's wedding that I do _not_ want to miss, so I'll factor in the time potential of leaving TLH and taking the 34-hour Greyhound ride.

That's about right except that I should have mentioned that the TSA hasn't actually made the announcement about the clarified double opt-out procedure. The source is a travel blogger who claims to have been informed about the new or "clarified" policy from the TSA. You can choose to believe him or not. According to him the TSA was supposed to have made the actual announcement, but they haven't. Maybe we will be able to find out more information through that blogger about when they are supposed to make the announcement. There has been no actual independent verification so far. But John Tyner has not been asked to pay any fines, and I doubt you would be either. Still, the double opt-out is not without risk. Also, rather than take Greyhound you may be able to reschedule the flight and try again another day.

I propose that we create a nudeoscope blacklist (a list of all the airports and checkpoints that have the nudeoscope or do the grope).

Perhaps we should all transfer in Canada for international flights. Or use airports like ATL where transfers happen within a single terminal. Anyone have a list of those?

Of course, haven't we noticed that airports have turned into Vegas? What happens there stays there? If the cops at the airport are in on the game with the TSA, it could literally be a matter of "I get to sexually assault you, or the local police hold you for 24 hours without charge. If your husband records this, he's getting held too, and we're destroying his camera memory card."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2009/09/12...lphia-airport/ (Yes, yes, I know...I love Fox News as much as the next person). Considering that the TSA has a tradition of overstepping their legal boundaries and, say, detaining people for having foreign-language flash cards that happen to be Arabic, it seems that airport security checkpoints are a Wild West with zero oversight.