After successfully avoiding air flight for over 6 months, I have to travel for work. I have asked to drive to my destination, but since it is halfway across the country, they will not allow it. So I will have to fly. Can you provide me with step-by-step guidance on how to deal with the security theater? What if the agents are rude? What are my rights? I heard you can identify whether you'll get scanned by your boarding pass and you can ask an airline attendant to remove it. Is this true? Thanks!De Ann
Any help appreciated.
11 Responses to DeAnn: “I absolutely have to fly – what should I do?”
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Have you looked into seeing if you can find a charter or other plane that has space for you? It might be a little scarier riding in a smaller plane, but I’d rather do that than be treated like a potential criminal in my own country when I’ve done nothing wrong.
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I have seen a list floating around about which airports have the scanners and which don’t. Many of the smaller airports don’t. When we flew at Thanksgiving, there was one security line at our airport that didn’t have the scanner installed. They just did the old style metal detectors, put your items on the belt to scanned. Same on our return flight. Maybe you can adjust your flight arrangements so you aren’t flying out of major airports, or see which line to be in. When you check in, ask if you are one of the ones tagged to get the full pat down. Many agents will remove it.
I have found that the smaller airports DO have the scanners since they don’t have the volume of people that the larger airports have (it takes longer to process people through the scanners than the conventional metal detectors). Unfortunately, there is no right answer to DeAnn’s question. You just have to take it as it comes and do whatever is right for you until this insane security policy is changed.
I have found that taking Amtrak (www.amtrak.com) is a significantly faster means of transportation than driving. It is also very comfortable. I suggest asking your employer to look into the plausibility of allowing you to take the train. You can also request personal time off for the extra time in transit, if necessary. This will ensure that your employer knows that you are serious.
I’m in the same situation, going to have to fly although I’ve boycotted since the body scanners.
I say opt out of scanners, get the pat-down. Maybe dress really well so you look important and they might be more gentle on you. Close eyes and think of a happier place.
People seem to get in trouble for TSA protests at the TSA checkpoints, but make up for flying by telling all your friends to support legislation to ban or withdraw body scanners and groping, call legislators, etc.
Have you considered taking a train? Maybe your employer would consider that a compromise you could both live with.
Either way, I travel frequently for business (just got back from a trip last week) and didn’t have any problems. The airports I went through used both the old x-ray and the new porno scanners. I simply went into the x-ray line and that was that. Look for those, get in that line, and hope for the best.
One thing I would definitely do is document your experience with the TSA agents, particularly if you’re selected for the “enhanced” screening.
If you can, make an audio or audiovisual record of the incident, using whatever you have available (an MP3 player with voice recorder, a cell phone with video-recording capabilty, a cheap digital camera that doesn’t have optical zoom, etc.).
I’d also take a small pad and a pen/pencil or three, just in case you can’t use the methods I suggested above – that way, you’ll at least be able to make notes on what transpired once all’s said and done.
As for the other matters, well, I can’t speak to those – but I would definitely keep an inventory of what you pack, just in case something turns up missing when you get to your destination.
My work requires me to fly nearly every week. So far in 2011 I have only had to opt out of the xray machines twice. Every other time I have been successful in finding lines that were simply using standard metal detectors. Of the two times I had to opt out, the TSA agents were absolutely professional and respectful. One gave me a very thorough pat down and the other, not so much. Really, my only advice is to (1) scout out the different TSA checkpoints, to see if you can find one with the xrays turned off and (2) give yourself an extra 15 minutes in case you do have to opt out and get the hand pat down.
I am sorry that yours and my taxes are paying for criminals to menace us at airports, and that we are now reduced to elaborate avoidance strategies to try to sneak through TSA checkpoints without being threatened, irradiated, strip searched, sexually assaulted, stolen from, or dehumanized.
You still have some chance of passing through a TSA checkpoint without being harmed. Here are some ideas: Check the TSA status website to see if you can fly out of alternate airports that don’t have strip-search scanners. Get to your airport very early if you must use an airport with scanners. Watch the security lines in the most covert way you can to see whether the scanners are on or off. Sometimes they rope off the scanner or put the little sign in front of the entrance so you can see immediately that it’s off, but in a few cases the scanners weren’t being used but I could only detect that after watching for a while. I was in three airports last week, and all of them had at least one lane where the scanners were off. This is because the scanners take five people to run one lane. Avoid slow travel times because anecdotally the only time every single person gets forced through the naked machine is when there are very few travelers. Usually you can select your own screening lane with little or no interference from the document checkers, so you can self-opt-out of the scanner this way. Also, if it looks like scanners are on in all lanes, you might be able to wait a while and then see one of those lanes come down off the scanner. While I watched for two hours one afternoon at BWI, lanes came in and out of operation more than once.
Once you’re in a metal detector lane: Plan very carefully so that you don’t alarm the metal detector – metal on clothing, foil wrappers, underwire, hair clips, just don’t take anything even slightly questionable through the metal detector. If it alarms you might find yourself in a patdown, but you might not. Don’t antagonize screeners or express your opinion of the ludicrous farce that is airport sexcurity: reports of retaliatory patdowns and other harassment of TSA objectors are widespread. Finally, do not wear a dress. Do not wear a skirt. Some women have reported screeners reaching up their dresses or even being forced to remove skirts in back rooms. Do not wear a sweatshirt, cardigan, jacket, shirtdress, anything that might cause the imbeciles to think that you can take it off, unless you’re actually dressed to take it off. There have been many reports that screeners forced people to undress down to underwear in public because they wouldn’t believe that traveler had nothing else on underneath. You should wear a pantssuit, jumpsuit, romper, or other one-piece clothing to prevent these thugs from shoving their hands down your pants.
I’m wishing and hoping that you make it through the TSA’s sexual humiliation gauntlet safely.
HOLY COW! After reading Mr. Gentry’s suggestions, I wouldn’t fly unless I was forced to. I hope they all go out of business. Airports have become the new doctors office. We really don’t need Obamacare. We have his care doctors waiting to check our mental and physical status whenever we go to the TSA sextologists. If everyone just wore swimsuits and coverups I think there would be very little need for sexual assault at your local TSA criminals.aka. airports.
I fly fairly frequently, both out of major and smaller airports, and have (so far) managed to game the system every time. My strategies, in a nutshell:
1) Before going to the airport, dress in clothes that have very limited or no metal. Yoga pants for ladies are a great idea. Underwire bras have not been a problem. Skirts are a BAD idea–I’ve seen agents tell ladies who have not set off alarms that they were required to do an intrusive search because their skirts could be “hiding” something. Also, if you’re an attractive lady, be aware that male TSA agents may send you to the rapescan to give their buddies a treat. If you look a bit frumpier than normal, ditch the makeup, intentionally look “plain,” you may be able to avoid that situation. You can always fix yourself up after you’ve gone through security.
2) Scope out which security lines have scanners. In some cases, not all lines have scanners, so get in a line that does not if you can. Also, some lines may have scanners which are roped off.
3) If all lines have scanners which are in operation, take your time to unlace your shoes, get your stuff on the belt, etc. and keep an eye on the scanner to see that someone else is in it. With a little bit of timing, you can make sure you walk through the metal detector a moment after someone else enters the rapescan machine, since only one person can enter at a time.
4) Make sure you have removed all outer clothing and your shoes before going through the metal detector. I pat down my own body before going through to make sure I’ve removed all metal.
5) As much as you may want to punch a TSA agent, act pleasant and smile, say “thank you” and be generally polite. If you’re a jerk, even if they deserve it, they’ll single you out for gate rape.
These have worked for me, so far, to avoid both the rapescan machines and groping. Good luck.