Mark Ducati
10-31-2011, 08:55 AM
My wife and I recently took two out of town trips...
The first trip going through Atlanta, I went through the traditional metal detector and my wife was selected to go through the full body scanner... so she "opted out" for the pat down. So, since this was our first experience having a pat down grope, I decided to video it on my cell phone... the young TSA lady asked if I was video taping her and I said yes that it is not against the law in a public and low security risk (meaning not customs) part of the airport... she said my video taping made her feel uncomfortable... so I told her that perhaps she ought to find a new line of work! Hahaha, she didn't think it was too funny but quit complaining and finished the pat down.
The second trip, we flew through Flint, Michigan (Bishop Airport).... pretty small airport, but this time we both "opted out" of the scanner (this BTW, is their ONLY means of screening for a two gate airport).... so, before the pat down, they very politely explained how they would perform the pat down using the back of their hands that they do go up the leg to the groin area until resistance is met/felt, etc... very very polite and courteous. After the pat down, they asked why we chose to opt out and I told them that my wife and I are healthcare professionals and that we're exposed to x-rays every day and that although the body scanner uses very low dose x-rays that they are cumulative over a lifetime and my wife stated she also doesn't want anybody viewing her privates.
So the agent explained that we were correct, that the first generation full body scanner uses x-rays and that they do see all... but the one they have (being a smaller airport and basically last on the list to get a scanner), they got the new second generation scanner which uses radio waves (not x-rays) and for the image, all they see on the screen is a basic cookie cutter (gingerbread man) outline...
So the TSA agent goes into the scanner himself, they scan him and he brings us around the corner and shows us the image.... it looked like a gingerbread man, only there were 4 yellow arrows pointing to areas for them to inspect had this been a passenger... 1) His badge, 2) radio on his hip, 3) belt buckle and 4) wrist watch.
I really appreciated the TSA agent taking the time to explain the new system to me and my wife.... 99.9% of the TSA agents are pricks... well, we got the 0.1%.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that they're not all bad out there.... who know's? That might be part of the TSA's customer service plan.... because here I am telling folks about a pleasant experience, and in time, more people will perhaps be accepting of the scanner?
The first trip going through Atlanta, I went through the traditional metal detector and my wife was selected to go through the full body scanner... so she "opted out" for the pat down. So, since this was our first experience having a pat down grope, I decided to video it on my cell phone... the young TSA lady asked if I was video taping her and I said yes that it is not against the law in a public and low security risk (meaning not customs) part of the airport... she said my video taping made her feel uncomfortable... so I told her that perhaps she ought to find a new line of work! Hahaha, she didn't think it was too funny but quit complaining and finished the pat down.
The second trip, we flew through Flint, Michigan (Bishop Airport).... pretty small airport, but this time we both "opted out" of the scanner (this BTW, is their ONLY means of screening for a two gate airport).... so, before the pat down, they very politely explained how they would perform the pat down using the back of their hands that they do go up the leg to the groin area until resistance is met/felt, etc... very very polite and courteous. After the pat down, they asked why we chose to opt out and I told them that my wife and I are healthcare professionals and that we're exposed to x-rays every day and that although the body scanner uses very low dose x-rays that they are cumulative over a lifetime and my wife stated she also doesn't want anybody viewing her privates.
So the agent explained that we were correct, that the first generation full body scanner uses x-rays and that they do see all... but the one they have (being a smaller airport and basically last on the list to get a scanner), they got the new second generation scanner which uses radio waves (not x-rays) and for the image, all they see on the screen is a basic cookie cutter (gingerbread man) outline...
So the TSA agent goes into the scanner himself, they scan him and he brings us around the corner and shows us the image.... it looked like a gingerbread man, only there were 4 yellow arrows pointing to areas for them to inspect had this been a passenger... 1) His badge, 2) radio on his hip, 3) belt buckle and 4) wrist watch.
I really appreciated the TSA agent taking the time to explain the new system to me and my wife.... 99.9% of the TSA agents are pricks... well, we got the 0.1%.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that they're not all bad out there.... who know's? That might be part of the TSA's customer service plan.... because here I am telling folks about a pleasant experience, and in time, more people will perhaps be accepting of the scanner?