How are infants screened?
 

After reading all the "groping" posts I was wondering how infants are screened? My daugther is only 10 months old and is not walking, so I assume my husband or I will carry her?

Probably. There have been other posts where TSA has advised removing infants from their car seats before sending the car seat through the x-ray.

That would be a good idea. Yes you or your husband would carry your child through. If you alarm then a pat down will occur.

Ah, my area of expertise! Since infants seem to usually be carried by their mothers and I am one of few females at my airport, if an infant needs secondary, I'm usually the one to do it. First off, strollers and car seats need to go through the xray, unless they're one of those mega-supersized cadillac versions that are still the size of a small house even when folded. In that case, they are screened like wheelchairs.

Now, onto the child. Since you'll more than likely be the one carrying her, I suggest you make sure there's no metal anywhere on either of you other than little bits of jewelry of course. Don't forget your jackets, even her's since it may have a metal zipper or metal fasteners. Kick off your shoes too even if you don't think they have any metal on them. Now's not the time to worry about "profile" shoes; your goal is to not alarm the metal detector. I always suggest that if the child is carrying a blankie or stuffed animal that will need to be xrayed that they be allowed to hold onto it until the last possible second. Toss it into your xray bin just before you go through and snag it back the minute you get to the other side. There's no reason to upset her any more than absolutely necessary. Unless one of you alarms or are SSSS, you should be through and on your way in no time.

Let's assume you alarm or are SSSS; this gets a bit tricky. Here's how we do it. If the person carrying the infant is SSSS and the infant is not, then we have the person pass off the infant to their traveling companion if at all possible. That way we don't have to secondary the baby. If the adult is traveling alone (or otherwise can't pass off the baby), or if the adult and baby alarmed the metal detector or the baby is SSSS then we have no choice but to secondary the baby. What I always do is to go retrieve the stroller or car seat first along with the child's lovey if (s)he is fussing about being separated from one (search first if it's SSSS), and then I explain to the adult that I need to do a really quick pat-down on the baby. Patting them down is so much quicker, easier, less traumatic then trying to wand them. Once that's done, I let them put the baby in the stroller or car seat and go ahead and wand the mother.

The key to this, I think, is communication and compassion. I tell the parent all of this before starting because they really need to know what to expect. I also take the child's feelings into account especially if they're older and afraid of people they don't know. I hope I answered your question.

Put the baby in the plastic tub and give her a ride in the x-ray machine....Weeeeeeeeeeee.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, typifies the lunacy that is the SSSS program as we know it. Baby aside, it is ridiculous to SSSS one person in a traveling party and not SSSS the entire party. It is likewise ridiculous to SSSS a child simply because the child's mother was SSSS'd and the father wasn't there (who possibly was not SSSS'd) to carry the kid through.

Yes, so TSA and DHS can appear (since this is all about apperarances anyway) politically correct, random (as in a computer chose you based upone a secret profile (one way ticket, anyone?) people must be SSSS'd from time to time. To subject babies to this lame BS of an appearance is simply wrong; especially of the reason for selection is because the mother/father was SSSS'd and the baby couldn't go through the metal detector on his/her own. (This assumes that they were secondaroed based upon SSSS and not upon alarming the detector).

(And myrgirl, I do appreciate your respnse. My reply is directed at "the system" which requires reform, and not at you personally).

Pardon my ignorance but what does SSSS mean?

I thought this was about getting through the checkpoint with a child and not the politics of the selectee (SSSS) system.

SSSS is when you have "SSSS" written on your boarding pass and you are "selected" for automatic secondary screening of your person regardless of if you alarm the WTMD and your bags regardless of if anything suspicious appears.

Highly probable if you are on a one-way ticket, no frequent-flyer #, last minute ticket, infrequent flyer, etc.

Some TSA folks here have implied that if a child is SSSS'd, you can get the airline ticket agent to un-SSSS them. If the kid makes it to the checkpoint with SSSS, TSA can't do anything. But the impression was that the airline is not supposed to SSSS children. If your daughter is on her own ticket, it's something to keep an eye on.

In general, if you can make an infant vomit or defecate, chances are they aren't packing contraband internally.

Everything about going through the intellectually bankrupt and useless SSSS system is subject to comment when discussing how to get through a checkpoint. The fact that a child is involved doesn't absolve the system, but rather invites further examination.

Thus continuing the cause. So instead of giving the OP the answer they are looking for it is better to derail the subject?

Can't there be a discussion without it being derailed for another cause?

Well, the reason it was derailed was because someone innocently asked a question about SSSS on this thread. I don't think that was such a big deal.

The answer was given early one by myrgirl. Her answer invoked further discussion, part of which was on SSSS of infants and not parents, parents and not infants etc etc.

What if the infant has shoes on in a shoe carnival airport?