There is a misconception that Opt Out Day participants could slow down non-participating passengers. This is wholly incorrect. In fact, Opt Out Day may result in even shorter lines and faster trips through security.
Reader Andrew writes:
George, As a frequent flier, a two time world trade center survivor and a father travelling with his family on Weds., I strongly urge you to go f*** yourself. I hope that one day you are trying to travel home to your family on Thanksgiving and you miss your flight because some a**hole decides to organize a protest that subjects you to standing in line at security an extra hour with your infants and miss your flight. I do not object to your idea of protest on this issue, I am just enraged that you would pick the busiest day of the year to screw over every traveler out there. Go get a picket sign and march on the white house, tsa, whatever. Just don’t f*** with my family.
I know Andrew is not the only one worried about this. And with good reason: TSA security theater is already very slow. It is infuriating. All the more so because it is not making us any safer. In response, I want to note three facts:
Opt Outs Shorten Scanner Lines
By opting out, informed passengers are making it easier for those people willing to risk the scanners to get through faster. As the opt out line grows, the scanner line will shrink. If you’re willing to submit to a virtual strip search that carries the same risk of causing death as a terrorist attack, then I feel bad for you. But you’ll probably be able to get through even more quickly than if there was no Opt Out Day.
Opt Outs May Get Routed Through Metal Detectors
There are anecdotal reports that the TSA is already sending opt outs through the metal detectors when there are too many. So the opt outs may not be inconvenienced either!
We’re Educating Infrequent Travelers in order to Reduce Delays
Our educational efforts in 27 cities across the nation will inform infrequent travelers about the new TSA “choices” ahead of time. This is a job the TSA irresponsibly neglected. We’re picking up the mantle of responsibility. We’re making sure that these travelers can make an informed decision before they get trapped in the catch-22 of the security lines, where they might hold things up. People shouldn’t be forced to make a decision among the scanner, the enhanced patdown or an $11,000 fine without any advance preparation. Our network of dedicated civil libertarians is going out of its way, with little advance preparation and a shoestring budget to help these people. These brave souls will almost certainly save Andrew’s family some time and stress.
Many Already Opted Out of Flying Altogether
On Twitter, @greenandchic notes something I forgot. Many people have already joined our boycott of the airlines. Together we have reduced the number of people flying that day. That should make things go easier! Thanks @greenandchic.
So I hope Andrew and others who are worried about this understand that our protest is aimed at the TSA, not travelers, and that we are probably going to make their experience more pleasant.
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I also just heard on a special report that it’s a myth that the wed before thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year. The reporter said it rarely even falls within the top 10 busiest travel days and the busiest travel day is always a Friday in June.
Even if it does inconvenience people (and I personally *hate* to be inconvenienced) if we did not stand up for our rights, then our country would not even exist! How much inconvenience did our ancestors go through to leave a legacy of rights and freedoms? I don’t want any more freedoms to be taken away. So while I’m sorry that some people might be delayed in their plans, I say it is worthwhile.
Yes-Correct!
If people refuse body scans on Weds the 24th of November, they will only make everyone wait longer in line and cause people to miss their flights because pat downs take 2 mins and body scans take 20 secs. This will only hurt people. It is a dumb and not will thought through nonsense idea. Most people will go through the security scanner as usual. Only those who fail because they’re careless enough not to remove coins and other materials that will set off the alarm will have to go through a body scan. Only if they refuse the body scan will they be patted down. If you are too uptight about a body scan, then don’t fly. That alone will make the lines move faster.
Gerald: If you are so afraid of being inconvenienced by people trying to preserve their constitutional rights, then don’t fly this weekend. It will make the lines move faster. And, one less flyer will put the airlines into bankruptcy faster (which seems to be what the TSA/government wants).
Also, if you believe body scans take 20 seconds, then have I got a bridge to sell you!
Thank you for taking on the leadership in this activity. I also appreciate your focus on being polite and reasonable in the discussion. Let’s show our outrage responsibly. The pressure on the TSA and our government is working but it must be sustained.
Thanks Veronica! Good story grandma!
Not a single terrorist attack in US history was prevented by law enforcement. Not one. Every flight based attack since 9/11 was stopped by normal civilians, with no training. The theatrical security agency, sexually assaulting minors, does nothing to make flights safer.
Hell, it’s even easy to get around being on the no fly list. Steal a credit card. Buy the ticket online and print the boarding pass. Then, print another boarding pass with your real name on it. Take the fake one and your real ID through the security checkpoint. Then, take the real one, put a little squiggle on it, and use that to get on the plane.
The only terrorists american travelers need to worry about are the ones working for the TSA.
Andrew says: “Just don’t f*** with my family”.
Well Andrew I think that is what people who are going to protest are saying to the gestappo U.S. Government.
I find it sad but interesting that (at least according to media polls) many people are willing to put up with ever increasing “inconvenience” for the illusion of security – but not willing to put up with ANY inconvenience to protect our Constitutional rights.
Looks like Andrew has a lot of misplaced rage and didn’t think this through. He shouldn’t begrudge others for choosing a pat-down while it is still an option.
Thanks, Veronica. I investigated, and you’re right, according to CBS news: https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/25/eveningnews/main5778298.shtml
Wednesday before Thanksgiving is very busy, no doubt. The busiest time frame for travel is usually specific to a region and an airport. For Portland, OR and Seattle, WA and most of the west coast, SPRING BREAK is the pinnacle of travel periods. Check out airport stats for the month when they have the most passenger traffic for any period. SPRING BREAK has more involuntary denied boarding in Portland OR than any other time of year. I doubt the busiest travel day is a Friday in June on the west coast anyway, and busy is definitely relative to all other events (weather, mechanicals, schools dismissed, traffic, presidential visits, etc.).
Andrew is directing his rage at the wrong person.
You aren’t messing with his family, you are pointing out this this very intrusive, invasive government is not performing its fundamental duty of upholding his family’s constitutional rights.
How dare you exercise your 1st amendment rights to protest the destruction of our 4th amendment rights on a day that inconveniences MEEEEE?!?!
If you don’t like it, don’t fly. Where have I heard that before?
So reader and hero and extremely busy person Andrew is pissed. So what? Everybody else is pissed about what is happening to their Constitutional rights and their personal freedoms. Andrew can just suck it up and put up with this for one day.
Some of us are “opting in”–opting to pat downs, that is!
Hey, Andrew, looks like somebody needs a time-out. I’ve seen spoiled children rant less than you. You know, you’d add more credibility to your position and concerns, and maybe even garner some sympathy, if you behaved maturely and wrote without profanities. Anyone who can’t even discuss this civilly may end up having a major meltdown/tantrum at the airport, and if you do that, TSA will toss you. So, your own temper may be your own worst enemy tomorrow. Happy trails to you.
The only thing is if there is a terrorist attack on an American plane then all of you will be screaming “Why didn’t the government do more!”. The scanner and the pat down were put in place to protect us while in flight. And if you noticed the aggressive pat down was started after finding pseudo-bombs on a flight from Yemen to Chicago, did you hear that on a FLIGHT to a U.S. CITY! Like I said if there was an attack you would all be screaming your heads off that the government didn’t do enough to prevent it! So don’t make the rest of us suffer because you’re trying to make a useless point.
Laura, Laura, Laura, if you are going to make an argument, please, at least know the facts. You say”And if you noticed the aggressive pat down was started after finding pseudo-bombs on a flight from Yemen to Chicago, did you hear that on a FLIGHT to a U.S. CITY!” What you failed to say, either because you heard only what you wanted to hear on the news, was that these bombs were in CARGO! And it’s CARGO, whether on CARGO plane or PASSENGER planes, that are not being checked adequately. So, molesting citizens (the very people who will help to stop, and have helped to stop terrorists in the past – as Mike noted above, TSA has not stopped a single terrorist) does nothing to make you or anyone else safer. All is does is give gullible people a false sense of security.
Here’s what I know: – once absorbed, radiation never leaves your body, so it is in your best overall health interest to refrain from undergoing unnecessary radiological procedures. – In the regulated health setting, radiological imaging instruments are closely gauged and monitored. – the TSA does not do that, and, since higher doses of radiation lead to more clear images, the TSA might crank up the power. There is no guarantee their equipment is set correctly or working well. The more they turn up the radiation the more clearly they see… – A Google search for “accidental radiation overdose” returns 15,900 hits – no body scan for me.
I just listened to a couple of consultants say that the greatest effect the planned opt-out protest will have is that our fellow passengers will be inconvenienced and will become angry at those who opt out.
As far as I’m concerned Americans have been too lax on understanding rights (constitutional, human, etc.) issues, preferring comfort and nonconfrontation over protesting government/big business abuse. As far as I’m concerned, if the main objection to the op-out protest is that it will “inconvenience” fellow passengers, then perhaps they deserve to be inconvenienced. Then maybe they will get a clue, or at least think about what’s going on. It’s about time for them to have empathy for those who tremble at the idea of being groped, molested, stripped searched, irradiated or photographed in “the pose.” Even if, as so many of them say (cluelessly), “I’m all in favor of the new screening. I don’t have any problem with it at all.”
Yeah, this website and Opt Out Day are a good idea, but the both aren’t strong enough to implement real change. Although, any action on the matter is good action.
We need to get rid of the TSA, we need to regain the rights we lost as a result of 9/11. Terrorism has existed in many shapes and forms for thousands of years, yet we’re suddenly so concerned with so-called safety and security based on 9/11? I don’t buy it.
Americans are a broken people. We don’t need no stinkin’ meetups whereby people sit around complaining about how to change things. We simply need to take action.
It is most likely that our families will be there for us to join on Thanksgiving next year, while our civil liberties may very well not be.
Fact correction: The scans take a full 2 minutes or more. The patdowns take 4 minutes.
George, stop spreading lies…TSA would never implement technology that had that low of a throughput level, contrary to your rantings a primary goal of TSA is to keep lines moving in balance with providing adequate security. By the way, did you realize that the AIT machines provide the same level of radiation as 1/6 of a banana! Yeah. TSA wont advertise that so they dont have people panicking about eating bananas and cause you to demand people stop eating them.
Several of my wife’s coworkers, after hearing about the TSA searches, are refusing to fly, and our city’s airport doesn’t even have the scanners yet. One is going to drive 1200 miles rather than go through a pat down, while another is driving 8 hours to get to where she needs to go.
Among the things that bother me are the safety of the scanners, since it is unknown at present how safe they are. I’m a cancer survivor, and I don’t want to go through that again so until the scanners are determined to be safe, I’m not sure I want to go through them. I know when I get xrayed at the ER or the Doctor’s office, the technician running the machine is in a shielded area. People don’t get xrayed all the time but frequent flyers, along with airline staff, and airport workers who work in the security areas, would have to be scanned daily, perhaps several times a day, that can’t be safe.
As for the pat downs, police officers can’t just randomly pat someone down unless they have probable cause to do so. I don’t consider buying an airline ticket probable cause to search someone, especially in a country whose constitution guarantees against unjustified searches. In addition, it’s known these methods won’t work anyway.
One thing I’ve noticed in these recordings that have surfaced is the TSA doesn’t have people arrested. If someone is arrested, they are guaranteed certain rights, including the right to not answer questions without an attorney present. To me that’s why they don’t arrest anyone, because it seems people who get arrested have more rights than those who buy an airline ticket.
What everyone refusing to fly needs to do is to inform whatever airlines they would have flown on along with the directors of every airport they would have gone through as to why they aren’t flying. Once they all start feeling the pain in their wallets, they’ll all demand the TSA come up with an effective form of security that doesn’t infringe upon our rights.
There is no question that we need effective and standardized airport security, but what they are doing now is not effective, and infringes upon people’s rights, and could be dangerous. This needs to be stopped before it spreads to other areas of travel.
J.D.
i agree with those of you who say the time has come to stand up for our privacy rights as americans. there is a simple solution that usa has overlooked. israel is known for their security. they zone in on suspicious people and give them the royal treatment and not every single innocent traveller. lets take a cue from them and figure out the right way to secure our airplanes that really work instead of stripping people of their rights and treating all of us like criminals. fyi ,some experts have said that these measures we use can be circumvented by terrorists . also be aware that terrorists are already working on the next up and coming threat, they are always one step ahead of us.
I appreciate the information, and I do agree with protesting when necessary. However, I have yet to hear of any better ideas for security measures. And in the case that they did remove the scanning devices and stopped the full-body pat-downs, those of you protesting would continue to blame TSA and the government if there was a terrorist attack, I think. In other words, you would not accept the possibility that the new procedures do, at some level, prevent terrorist attacks. So, I don’t buy completely what you are saying. I don’t agree that these new procedures don’t at all prevent terrorist attacks or attempted attacks. And I don’t agree that your refusal of the scan won’t put a monkey wrench in TSA procedures. If it does not, then why are you doing it? It would not make any sense. The no-fly thing will eventually have an economical effect, and for that I say more power to you! But before I jump on board with you, I’m waiting for better ideas! If there are, let me know! Let TSA know!