Jul 18, 2013, 9:11 am
Last edit by: stifle
As and from 22 November 2013, passengers who are selected for a body scan may decline and receive a "private search alternative".
Body scanners are in place or on their way to the majority of major international airports in the UK. As of the end of 2013, they are deployed in LHR, LGW, BHX, MAN, EDI, GLA, STN, LCY, and BFS and were deployed in late 2014/early 2015 to ABZ, BHD, BRS, CWL, EMA, LBA, LPL, LTN, NCL and PIK. Until 21 November 2013, passengers declining a scan once selected were denied passage through the checkpoint and offloaded from their flight. As of 22 November 2013, passengers selected may decline a scan and will be hand-searched in a private room. This search may require the loosening or removal of some items of clothing and the passenger may have a witness present. The passenger's carry-on items will also be thoroughly searched and may be subject to explosive threat detection swabbing. Details of some FlyerTalkers' opt-out experiences can be read in post #606 and #661.
All body scanners in the UK are of the millimetre wave type. Backscatter machines were previously used but withdrawn in 2012. There are 4 models in use: the L3 ProVision, the L3 ProVision 2, the Smiths eqo (which has a passing resemblance to the single-pose Rapiscan backscatter), and the Rohde & Schwarz Quick Personnel Scanner. All use Automatic Threat Recognition software so the result of the scan is immediately visible in the form of a so-called "Gumby" figure on the screen. The passenger and the security clerk will see the figure and any anomalies are outlined with boxes; these areas are then patted down.
Scanners are not used as primary and all passengers pass through walk-through metal detectors in the first instance. In most locations, the scanner is associated with one WTMD and if you trigger this WTMD you will be directed to the scanner. Note that WTMDs in the UK are set to randomly beep with a certain probability (perhaps 15%) even if you have no metal. In some locations, however, the scanner is set back from the checkpoint and security clerks select people based on undisclosed criteria, sometimes after they have already packed up their stuff and put it back in their bags/pockets/etc.
A passenger may, if so inclined, request to be screened by the scanner rather than passing through the WTMD, which one supposes may be preferable to certain passengers possessed of metal implants which they cannot divest.
Historically the chance of being selected for scanning on any given trip was quite low, as there are generally multiple lanes at any given checkpoint but only one or two scanners. This is now changing at non-London airports where the lanes with scanners are used most and non-scanner lanes only opened to handle peak demand, and at London airports where more scanners are being installed. It was also usually the case through 2014 that fast track lanes for premium and status passengers were WTMD only; this is sadly history now.
Unless otherwise stated, the scanners below are located behind WTMDs and passengers beeping the WTMDs are scanned.
Scanner locations per airport:
LHR T1: Closed
LHR T2: Scanners on all lanes behind WTMD, except the very furthest lane from the entrance.
LHR T3: Recent information required.
LHR T4: Recent information required.
LHR T5: Scanners on most lanes behind WTMD. Due to limited space the lanes at either end of north checkpoint and at either end of south checkpoint (but not fast track) are scanner-free.
LGW TN: WTMD + scanner in every lane.
LGW TS: WTMD + scanner in every lane. Sometimes scanners switched to primary.
MAN: Scanners: one per checkpoint, used as secondary screening in lieu of pat-down if WTMD triggered.
EDI: Update needed from new checkpoint
STN: Scanners behind the WTMDs for lanes 7/8 and 15/16.
LCY: Scanners in both checkpoints, used as secondary. Two safe lanes in the old checkpoint (the one with automatic boarding pass scan gates) so use that and try to SDOO.
GLA: Between lanes 3 and 4. Note, fast track normally uses lanes 1 and 2 but you can get unlucky. (Updated 25 January 2014)
BFS: Scanner used as secondary if you trip the WTMD.
ABZ: Information needed
SOU: Scanner behind the only WTMD
BHD, LPL, BRS, EMA, NCL, LBA, LTN, CWL: Information also needed
See also: https://www.gov.uk/government/speech...ty-scanners--2
UK body scanners - opt outs permitted 22 November 2013
Mar 15, 2011, 7:33 am
#46
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: FKB
Programs: Skymiles - FO
Posts: 207
Just had a run through MAN T3, managed to self-direct myself to the WTMD line (which is lines 1-3). There was a shedload of people being sent to the magic BKSX line (which sends you through a WTMD and then you are automatically directed, Canadian-style, either to the exit or to the nude-o-scope depending on whatever super secret factors are in vogue at the moment; got to keep them terrorists guessing).
Advice for passengers there is to try to time it so that you hit the top of the queue (where a clerk directs you to either WTMD or BKSX) when the BKSX queue is backed up. Mess around with your hand luggage and let a few people get ahead of you in the queue if it looks like you're going to get sent the wrong way.
Advice for passengers there is to try to time it so that you hit the top of the queue (where a clerk directs you to either WTMD or BKSX) when the BKSX queue is backed up. Mess around with your hand luggage and let a few people get ahead of you in the queue if it looks like you're going to get sent the wrong way.
Mar 15, 2011, 9:17 am
#48
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 959
Mar 15, 2011, 9:28 am
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: From ORK, live LCY
Programs: BA Silver, EI Silver, HH Gold, BW Gold, ABP, Seigneur des Horaires des Mucci
Posts: 14,205
They were in between. More detailed than the stylized stick figures, but not quite the full naked level. I saw them only at some distance.
Mar 15, 2011, 9:49 am
#50
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 959
Is there any way that any of the passengers could get a good look at the screens? I'm thinking that if one were to get close enough, one could take a picture of the screen (on the sly, of course). That would be a major privacy issue, and basis for a complaint to one's consulate.
Last edited by DeafBlonde; Mar 15, 2011 at 10:33 am
Mar 15, 2011, 10:07 am
#51
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,444
Actually, I think the images should be on public display (if they are at all being generated, that is). The way I think of it is that either these images are invasive and displaying them is a privacy breach, in which case they should not be generated for the purpose of airport security, or they are not invasive and should be examined in full view of, at the very least, the passenger in question. The fact that the images in the US are hidden from the person being viewed naked and that we cannot even see what the person analyzing the images is doing makes this whole operation seem all the more sleazy to me.
Mar 15, 2011, 10:10 am
#52
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: From ORK, live LCY
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Is there any way that a any of the passengers could get a good look at the screens? I'm thinking that if one were to get close enough, one could take a picture of the screen (on the sly, of course). That would be a major privacy issue, and basis for a complaint to one's consulate.
Mar 15, 2011, 10:20 am
#53
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 959
But is the public able to get near enough to view the image clearly?
Mar 15, 2011, 10:55 am
#54
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: From ORK, live LCY
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Posts: 14,205
Yes. It's visible while you're waiting in line and also while you're loading your stuff onto the x-ray belts.
Mar 15, 2011, 11:21 am
#55
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Boston
Posts: 821
Actually, I think the images should be on public display (if they are at all being generated, that is). The way I think of it is that either these images are invasive and displaying them is a privacy breach, in which case they should not be generated for the purpose of airport security, or they are not invasive and should be examined in full view of, at the very least, the passenger in question. The fact that the images in the US are hidden from the person being viewed naked and that we cannot even see what the person analyzing the images is doing makes this whole operation seem all the more sleazy to me.
So instead we have this sleazy set-up where some mysterious man or woman in a booth out of sight is looking at hundreds of images of bodies of unknown graphic detail. At least with the patdown, as inappropriate as it may be, there is none of this element of the unknown. You know exactly what the screener is seeing or feeling, and you know who is doing the screening.
Mar 15, 2011, 12:03 pm
#56
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: HSV
Posts: 876
Originally Posted by saulblum
The TSA could defuse a lot of the privacy concerns by actually releasing some sample issues that the screener-in-a-private-booth actually sees. There would be no names attached to the images, so they'd be just as anonymous as the images the screener sees.
Also, have you seen this post from the TSA Blog?
Mar 15, 2011, 12:30 pm
#57
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Boston
Posts: 821
"Kip Hawley wants travelers to know that the only place the images are ever seen is inside a locked, windowless room."
And to the 95,000 viewers of the 60 Minutes YouTube clip. If the TSA is okay with a broadcast of this episode remaining on YouTube for the world to see, and the images are so non-graphic that they are acceptable for broadcast news, and faces are blurred to keep the images anonymous, then what is the rationale for keeping the screener in a remote location?
Mar 15, 2011, 12:49 pm
#58
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,444
I´m pretty sure if people saw what these machines show, public outcry would escalate quickly (and rightfully so).
Mar 15, 2011, 12:49 pm
#59
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: HSV
Posts: 876
Originally Posted by saulblum
If the TSA is so adamant that passengers not take pictures that include screens, then who approved the CBS crew to do exactly that?
He did the same for the BDO program in, I think, 2009 as well. Prior to him talking about it publicly (the interview was posted here onto FT, IIRC), I suppose the fact that there were plainclothed BDOs roaming around airports in civilian clothing was SSI. He released the information in the interview, and, whammo, no longer SSI.
...then what is the rationale for keeping the screener in a remote location?
Mar 15, 2011, 1:06 pm
#60
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,444
By the way, if you don´t think these scans are invasive, go to the 40 sec mark in this video. It actually got me more than a little red in the face the first time I saw it.
