I haven't flown since before the body scanners were introduced. Are there certain queues that don't have body scanners, or how do I avoid the body scanner?

Where are you flying from? To where? And why do you want to avoid the scan?

Interesting first post from a newly minted FTer.

Welcome to FT MITjazz!

At all the US airports I've flown through there is a sign up saying that if you don't want to go through the body scanner then you will be subject to a full body pat-down instead.

Just tell them you'd prefer that when you get to the scanner.

Go for the full body massage instead. Welcome to Flyertalk.

There are plenty of good reasons to want to avoid it. Potentially hazardous, invasive of privacy, slow, etc.

Yes you can opt out - but that will slow you down by 5 minutes or more (in SEA one time it took them about 10 minutes to find some guy to give me my full body massage - I suspect this is intentional)

It is fairly possible to avoid the body scanners at BOS. At least in terminal B (have barely flown through the others, so I don't remember). My memory is that you could just look ahead and see which lines were the body scanner lines. Occasionally the TSA agents will grab people out of the x-ray lines for a full body scan - but it's uncommon.

Thank you for the replies.

To usud: BOS is the airport abbreviation for Boston.

BOS is my home airport and I fly Delta. I opt out of the scanner every time (and I am picked every time). That means I get the full service grope session but better that than the back scatter.

The most I've been delayed is about 7 minutes while waiting for a female assist to grope me.

What are the chances of a pat down after going through the WBI/Nude o Scope vs going through the WTMD (not opting out, just using it instead of the body scan machine if there is a choice or if there is no WBI)? I, as opposed to the OP wish to avoid a pat down because I am ticklish, especially in my breast area (I am male). Assuming everything is emptied from your wallet, is the WTMD set to beep at even a metal pants zipper, subjecting you to a secondary screening?

I don't have any objections to the body scan machine, but I respect the OP's desire not to go through it. I wish there better accommodations or alternatives for people who have issues with either a pat-down or a body scan machine. If someone would invent a high tech wand or non contact device to scan people for explosives or develop a radiation free body scan, it would allay the trepidation of many flyers.

I was using the iphone app which didnt show the last bit of your title

The Virgin America checkpoint in B is NoS free

For more discussion, please follow as the thread moves to the Travel Safety/Security forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

I flew airTran out of Logan earlier this month. There are two security lanes leading to the Term C40-42 pier after the TDC. Only the right-hand side has a NOS.

Landside, next to the jetBlue counters, there is this sick poster over a door touting future machines

(across from the Drunkin Donuts)

I flew out of Boston to Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic in November (2010). I didn't want to go through the body scanner, and the English bloke in front of me in the queue said to the TSA bods that he wanted a manual scan as he was placing his items on the X-ray conveyor belt before they'd even asked him to go through the body scanner! That caused quite a kerfuffle while the TSAs summoned their comrades to herd and manhandle the mouthy offender, and I just strolled through the WTMD without being asked anything.

Phew.

But at least in the States you HAVE the option not to through the scanner if requested, unlike here in Gulag Great Britain..!