"At the end of the day we're not the threat, and we want the TSA to concentrate on getting bad guys."
- Capt. Sam Mayer (a Boeing 767 captain and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association)
I was on a recent trip to the east coast and after seeing this article from The Washington Post today I thought I should share my story.
Here is the article: Scanners and Pat-Downs Upset Airline Passengers, 11.15.2010
You be the judge: Is airport screening gone too far? Is it really going to thwart terrorist attacks?
My return flight home from the Baltimore airport brought me face to face with the x-ray machine, which has been getting a lot of attention in the press lately. I am currently pregnant and had decided well beforehand I would refuse to be screened through an x-ray machine. And sure enough, the opportunity for declining just such a screening came. Not for any reason, mind you. I didn't beep through the regular machine, nor did my bags contain anything that required a second glance. They were merely shuffling a few passengers through the regular security thingy, and then a few through the x-ray thingy. I was one that had to go through the x-ray thingy.
I declined.
They asked me why?
I said because I was pregnant (I AM pregnant...this was not a lie, and I am noticeably pregnant).
I was not interested in exposing my fetus to unnecessary radiation.
The TSA agent assured me the machine does not emit a dangerous amount of radiation (and I should trust you because???)
I still said no.
They threatened a full-body pat-down.
I said I still wasn't going through.
So then I prepared for my pat-down.
And I'm NOT kidding when I say it was pretty invasive. They offered me a private room, which I declined, being in a hurry. She politely described the security measures are more invasive now and she shared that she would be feeling all the way up my inner thigh and around my breasts. I rolled my eyes...this was going to be interesting.
And so it commenced. It was exactly as she said. She touched every part of my backside. And as promised, all the way up my inner thighs. She felt around my chest...wow...I was surprised by that. My eyebrows were definitely raised. I think I was blushing...one word: awkward.
After it was over she tested my hands with a special wand with a piece of fabric on the end. I assume this was to check for firearm residue. That was painless...
Let's just say, the TSA screener got well beyond second base and I had no defense mechanism if I wanted to get on that plane and come home. I hate the feeling of not having a choice.
From this article in The Seattle Times yesterday, this sums up my thoughts: "In many cases, if you don't catch these issues well in advance of the airport, it's too late."(Vahid Motevalli, co-founder of the Aviation Institue at George Washington University and now a professor at Purdue University).
I'm just grateful we are staying close to home at the holidays...we won't be traveling for a while and my modesty needs some time to recover.
And remember when we thought it was a big deal when they started asking everyone to take their shoes off? That rule change only prepared us for what would be coming in the future.
ReplyDeletePeople were upset that Bush listened to phone conversations? At least he isn't patting us down and merely listening to good gossip!
Though you felt she got well past second base, one way you can look at it, is all your clothes are on. Many women go and get alterations done, and the seamstresses touch and see way more than the airport security. Many women also go and get spray tanned, again this is a stranger who is seeing our everything, but they (and like the airport security) aren't looking at us like we are seeing it. They are seeing us as an object, did I spray there, did I pat there, is the spray even, is that a weapon?
I know it seems different, but I have to travel a lot for work, so it isn't a choice. I would rather know I am going as safely as I can.