That's the secret. Don't let them complete their screening until you have your shoes back on your feet. Works every time. They have made me wait quite a while, but they're waiting too, so I don't really care. And of course all this is after not alarming!!! :(

Bruce

Thanks for the tips, all. In addition to being grossed out by the idea of bare feet touching the floor, I'm not too thrilled about touching a cold floor even in socks, my feet are always frigid to begin with.

I've had a couple TSA thugs flatly refuse to return the shoes prior to the completion of the screening - one loudly told me to "STAND UP" and repeated it when I asked for my shoes.

And this was following a "We recommend you remove your (non-profile) shoes, followed by a loud "Assist" even before I crossed thru the WTMD. And of course, no alarm.

Of course if you wear a rubber thong (http://www.bodyaware.com/zdh-rubber-...ar-thongs.html) along with your flip-flops going through security, you may not get felt up quite as much :).

Personally I always wear (non-explosive containing) running shoes when I fly. I never listen when they ask me to take off my shoes. I've only once been challenged on it. I took them off and walked through the X-ray carrying them, pretending not to understand (I have a couple of non-English languages to call on if challenged :)). He told me to put my shoes back on and I went on my way.

To be honest, if I'm really challenged I'm happy to send them through the machine to make them feel better. It's just not worth my missing an extra drink at the MLL/argument for a chit at the RCC :).

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

That's just ridiculous on the screener's part. There's absolutely nothing wrong with allowing the passenger his or her shoes back after clearing the feet. Once I send the alarming shoes on to xray and wand the feet I always ask, "Do you want to stand and continue screening now or would you prefer to wait for your shoes to come back?" Most of the time, she'll opt not to wait for her shoes, but I have no problem waiting with her if she'd prefer shoes on. A little courtesy goes a long way. :) Ironically, I've had a couple ladies get mad at me for asking because they thought I was being sarcastic. :confused:

:D

You walked through the x-ray? You must be really short. ;) I once had someone insist on walking through carrying his profile shoes. Since his shoes were with him and didn't get xrayed, I sent him over for a shoe swab.

I had to wait until I became a lead screener before I could change the mentality at my airport. We were specifically prohibited from allowing passengers to put their shoes back on until the hand-wanding was complete. The rationale was that theoretically, something could be slipped back into the sock or footwear as the individual is ostensibly putting them back on.

Once I was promoted to lead screener, I changed that and allowed screeners to provide this courtesy to passengers. As you pointed out, many passengers refuse this courtesy: most of them just want to get it over and done with.

Our mentality has always been to treat putting shoes back on the same as putting an animal back into a kennel or a baby into a stroller. There's always a chance an item could be slipped into the shoes/kennel/stroller but you just watch the person closely.

That's because there's good people (like you and Bart and a few others ^ ^ ) and then there's the others kind. :td:

Funny you mention "alarming shoes," since the shoes I'm talking about have flown over a million miles for more than a decade and have never alarmed. Not in any airport in any country in the entire world. And their sole and heel are well under an inch. Hasn't stopped all of the spatially-challenged mental midgets that fall in that second group. ;)

File a full complaint, with names of the screener(s) and the supervisors who were involved.

The POS who did that to you deserve to get dinged hard. :td:

I'm in the 'I don't want to stand or walk on a dirty floor in bare feet or socks camp', so I have in my tote the Lufthansa slippers they give you when you fly F (think of the type the hotels have in the hotel rooms) as they take up even less space than flip-flops & I just put those on before going through.

Before I started doing that if I had to go through secondary (ie, didn't take shoes off) I also was in the 'I'll wait to complete the secondary once I get my shoes back' camp.

To me it's simply a hygiene issue - I'm not standing on a dirty floor in bare feet or stockings. At my home is one thing ;) :D ; doing it in a public place where thousands of strangers feet have gone through & dust balls floating around - ick....

Cheers

I find that most major airports now have the machine where all they need to do is a swab of your shoes.

Sorry, but I lift each foot so as to prevent the screener from having to bend down and get on or clsoe to the floor. I know they appreciate it as they say Thanks and then after putting it thru the machine simply wave me thru, w/o having to endure the rest of Secondary.

This is definitely the policy at EWR as of late. A vast improvement over the past.

Humor check:

When we started on the shoe screening policy a while back, one of my screeners followed the script by recommending that a passenger remove his shoes and place it in the x-ray for examination.

The passenger balked and asked, "do you expect me to walk on these floors without my shoes on?"

The screener responded without hesitation, "don't worry, you won't get our floors dirty."

The passenger laughed and then removed his shoes.

Yes, that has been my recent experience as well. Now if they can only understand that not all shoes are profile.