Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Full-Body Airport Scanners


In November, Tait and I will be flying to Dallas for a few days for a business conference. Tait's parents are keeping the boys while we're gone, to enable me to focus on the conference (and have a little alone time with my hubby!).

I did some research, and it looks like Dallas has those new, invasive, immodest, just plain wrong full-body scanners. (I'm obviously not a fan; can you tell?) Apparently, not every one is selected to be digitally undressed, but ... what if I am?

According to my research, you can opt instead for an old-fashioned pat-down - not my favorite idea, but definitely a better alternative.

What have your experiences been with full-body scanners? Have you found any viable alternatives? Any other advice on how to refuse a full-body scan? Have you had any problems refusing one?

6 comments:

Bryce said...

We refused in Amsterdam when departing back to the U.S. They had us go through the old style scanner, then patted us down. They gave us a brochure stating that the radiation is lower in the new full body scanners.

I don't like being patted down either, but at least a person maintains the benefit of having clothes on...

Seargeant family said...

Israel banded the full body scanners because they mess up/ruin your DNA. And they can be used for pornographic purposes. They are BAD BAD BAD!!!!!!!!

None said...

Dear Lauren,

I hope this comment isn't too random! I was "patted down" while traveling a few years back because I had a cast on my arm. It wasn't bad at all. The woman who did it was a lovely grandmother and we talked about her church. :) I requested to have the pat-down in a private room and it wasn't a problem at all.

Anyway, if you do get picked to be patted down, it's not bad and it's much more private! (It wasn't my favorite thing ever, of course, but I was expecting it to be far worse.)

Blessings,
Luci

Momma Bug said...

I would rather walk through one than be patted down by a male.
However, AJ travels a lot (I don't know if the airports he frequents through uses these, but he's told me that the states that use them have mandated "certain" areas blurred because of the pornography issues.
If it were a concern of mine and I could find some reliable sources (not always easy to come by) I would definitely look into it further than hear-say.

The Zimmerman Family said...

I don't believe they will have a male pat down a woman. i would much rather walk through one of the full-body scanners than go through that! But I think they always have women with women and men with men.

Anonymous said...

My mom got patted down because she was wearing a shirt.