How to survive a flight on National Opt-Out Day

Now what?

The TSA won’t change the way it screens passengers, even when threatened with a major protest action on one of the busiest air travel days of the year.

How do you survive what, even under ideal circumstances, is a dreadful day to be flying?

Get there early — way early. If you are traveling on Nov. 24th, give yourself even more time than you normally would. If you had planned to arrive three hours before your flight, give yourself four hours. Bring a good book.

Decide before you arrive. Are you going to be scanned or opt out? Don’t make the choice when you’re there. Read this FAQ about the scanners and this post on screening from the TSA site and make an informed decision, based on everything you’ve already read and seen.

Assume you’ll be scanned. The online lists of airports using full-body scanners are out of date, in many cases. Expect to make the choice, and don’t wait until you’re at the screening area to make the call. (Remember, the most effective way of persuading TSA to change its policy is a combination of litigation and public pressure, although you will certainly be making a point by refusing to be scanned on Nov. 24.)

Talk to your kids. Explain what is going to happen. That way, they’ll be less likely to be confused or cause a scene. TSA says it will used a “modified” pat-down on kids under 12, but it has declined to say how, exactly, children will be screened. But we have a pretty good idea of how kids are currently being checked.

Cooperate. The best time to protest (if, indeed, you want to) is before you arrive at the airport. Refusing the full-body scan is another, arguably less effective, form of dissent, which I’ve already discussed. But once you’ve made your choice, my advice is to fully comply with the instructions of the TSA employees. You can record the encounter on your phone (that’s allowed) and you can take pictures of your screening, but please refrain from criticizing, mocking or threatening the agents. They’re just doing their job. Many of them don’t agree with these new policies either, for what it’s worth.

Get a refund. You could also cancel your trip. Some airlines (Delta, AirTran) are offering passengers their money back on a case-by-case basis, even if you’re holding nonrefundable tickets. Here are details.

Good luck.

  • John

    I’ve been reading your blog daily for a few years, and I probably will stop because of your support of this. You people are a bunch of toddlers. If any of you get in my way and cause me to miss my flight, you should be arrested and charged with disturbing the peace.

  • Sean

    I agree John, this is no longer a site that I want to be a part . . . seriously, there hasn’t been an article is some time that isn’t about Chris’s support of this childish behavior.

  • Brandon

    ” If any of you get in my way and cause me to miss my flight”

    NOW who’s being a toddler?

    “Out of my way, children! Oh, and go sit in the back of the bus, where you belong!”

  • Monica

    @John I don’t think Chris is leaning one way or the other. To me, it seems like he’s telling travelers to make their own informed decision based on the information available.

  • Teresa

    I’d rather be a toddler intelligent enough to know that sometimes adults have to question authority than a sheep willing to hand over the rights our forefathers fought and died for just because someone says I have to.

    Thank you, Chris, for continuing to provide coverage on one of the biggest travel issues ever.

  • Walt Blackadar

    @John

    I’m sorry that standing up for my Constitutional rights is such a burden to you.

    “Get to the back of the bus, Rosa Parks!”

  • Linda

    Chris, read the FAQ from the link you provide in this blog..moving down o questions 5 & 6 ..we all know now this is not true..the pictures ARE stored as noted in your blog just a few days ago on Nov 16th or 17th..where 100 pictures were released and 35,000 saved! Don’t listen to these whiny people who say “I won’t read your blog anymore” to them I say, too bad! Who needs you! Well done Chris, keep up the good work!

  • Chris in NC

    I will confess, I have been reading this site less these days. While I don’t fault Chris (Elliott) for writing the articles about TSA and full body scanners, there seems to be an excess of them. Making matters worse, many comments are fact-less, based on emotions, and frankly, useless from an informational or event argumentative basis.

    For the record, I’m not keen on TSA protocols, but to willfully and intentionally sabotage security lines via passive-aggressive techniques, is not the answer. I’m sure that TSA has a few bad apples, but TSA agents still deserve RESPECT. If you disagree with a stop sign, do you keep running it in front of a police officer?

  • Erika

    @Sean & @John – I’m with Monica. This is a very important travel issue that – like it or not – is gaining in momentum. And the frustration now being expressed by the traveling public has been, as many other industry watchers and experts have noted, a long time in coming. If you want to choose to not read Chris’ blog because of this one issue it’s your loss. The problem itself isn’t going to go away and everyone is going to have to decide for themselves how best to deal with the situation. Furthermore, Chris isn’t advocating for National Opt-Out Day – in fact he specifically notes above that the best way to make your point is through litigation and public pressure.

  • Susanna

    I think some people should get a life. Who honestly cares about being scanned? You will be of many thousands scanned that day and on days forward. Like they say about gynecologists, “they have seen it all and you ain’t nothing new.”

  • eCurmudgeon

    There’s only one effective approach to this nonsense, and that is to simply stop flying. Cancel your flight (yes, the airlines already have your money, but there’s not a lot you can do about that it this point) and either find alternative transportation, or Just Stay Home.

    For the record, I canceled my Thanksgiving flight last week, and will drive the 800 miles each-way this week instead.

  • Mindy

    @ Chris in NC – Opting out of allowing a backscatter scan and requesting a pat down instead is not the same as ignoring a stop sign. To ignore a traffic device is a traffic violation which increases the danger to public safety.

    To act fully within your rights to demand a fully legal (but slower) form of screening as a form of civil protest does none of that.

  • cjr

    “but TSA agents still deserve RESPECT”

    Respect is earned, not given.

    And considering what some of us have had to put up with, long before these ‘enhanced’ pat downs were thrown on the pile of utter nonsense, they deserve every bit of our scorn and no respect whatsoever.

  • David Z

    Those deciding not to check this blog simply because of this issue: it’s fine. Just as some will find this disagreeable, others will find this informative or even (arguably) helpful.

    Good luck to everyone. And those driving: slow down and savor. :)

  • Chris in NC

    @ cjr
    I pity you. A TSA agent is fellow human being who is trying to do his/her job and earn a paycheck. The overwhelming majority of TSA agents that I have encountered, were professional. Every now and then you come across a snarky one, but thats no different than the occasional rude flight attendant, gate agent, ticket agent, fellow passenger, etc. You can criticize, and scorn the policy, but if you take it out on agents, then you deserve what you get.

    @ Mindy
    You’re right, its your right. I have no problems with people exercising their rights. But, to openly declare that the reason you want to do it is to create havoc and gridlock, that is irresponsible. How would you feel if a group of truckers decided to go down the freeway at the posted speed limit of 55 mph and cause gridlock for rush hour traffic. Hey, its legal, but that won’t make me feel any better if I were stuck in it.

    Seriously, I hear a lot of emotional rhetoric and cries about there has to be a better way. I challenge you WHAT IS THE A BETTER WAY? Do you (GASP) actually pre-screen (ie profile?) like they do in Israel?

  • LeeAnne

    To John and Sean: don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out. I’d much rather participate in these comment threads with people who have a reasonably developed sense of right and wrong, rather than mindless sheep willing to allow the government to treat us all like brainless children and/or criminals.

    @Christopher – thank you for your continued reporting on this extremely important topic. As a frequent traveler and someone who has personally experienced abuse at the hands of this bloated, ineffective, out-of-control government agency, I very much appreciate your efforts to keep us informed. Keep up the good work.

  • Joe Farrell

    So how do the folks who think the objectors are behaving like children suggest that the objectors get their point across? Instead of people names how about you provide us with a logical and effective means of complaining.

    The TSA progression of actions has been like the frog placed into a pot of water and having the temperature turned up slowly. A little bit more, a little bit more, we need a little bit more from you. Then the frog is dead in boiling water.

    Everyone has an enough is a enough point where the false promise of safety is simply not enough.

    Many of your compatriots in this nation have reached the end of their rope and the ‘pat downs’ of adolescent females, the reports of ‘we got a cutie coming through’ radio calls by TSA agents, the threats and police state tactics are now enough.

    So, folks have complained to TSA [which issued a blog on Friday which says the new pat-downs are not invasive after their director testified in Congress that they were] who has ignored the furor. They have complained to their Congress people and again be met with dead air and an utter lack of spine on the part of Congress to be called soft on security by TSA or DHS.

    Respectfully – there is no option left other than civil disobedience. Unless you have another solution that could be effective.

    TSA lied today and I KNOW they lied. They claimed in a single month only TWO people opted out of the nudeoscopes at LAX. I was one, my friend was another, and in line at Terminal 4 at LAX on 10 November I saw at least three others opt out. So in less than 20 minutes I know of FIVE people who opted out of the scanners- and they that only TWO people all month at an airport that sees 2 million people a month opted out. Ok then. Liars. And you trust them to care for the security of your family?

  • http://www.sanibel-rentals.net Sylvia

    I have not til now commented on this issue because it has been posted and commented on many times and because of the very apparent conflict between many commenting. I am in the middle for the most part seeing terrorism as a real threat and highly valuing my privacy. I don’t know the answer, but the recent news coverage of a gentleman who was scanned then roughly patted own causing a major problem with his urostomy bag has me very concerned about the education of the TSA agents. People who do not know a thing about medical conditons should not be patting any one down.

  • Roberto Pascal

    I’m not sure how I feel after seeing the way this young boy was treated at SLC the other day:

  • John

    First of all, this is not strip search. Second, it is not unreasonable. Third, why are all of you people ashamed of your bodies, who really cares if some person in another room sees a blurry. 4th, nobody is forcing you to fly, but if you are, please don’t make it a hassle for everybody else. We should be grateful there is an option, and what would everybody say if there was an incident, and a plane got blown up.

  • cjr

    “but if you take it out on agents, then you deserve what you get.”

    And if an agent takes it out on me – as I’ve had done in the past – then what is my course?

    Ahh, yes, respect them for treating me like crap. Of course.

    What a joke.

  • frostysnowman

    Chris, keep covering this topic. Don’t listen to the attitudes of people like John and Sean. It’s a hot-button issue right now and deserves to be at the forefront of discussion in many formats – on the web, on TV, in print, and so on.

  • Jennifer M.

    My understanding of civil disobedience is that it is an active refusal to follow a rule/law. How is asking for a pat-down, an option offered by the TSA, and then following all instructions from the TSA during process an act of civil disobedience?

  • LadySiren

    Dear John and Sean: Your protest has been duly noted. Don’t let the security gate hit your behind on the way out.

    Cheers,

    ~ Elliott readers who still enjoy enthusiastic debate and civil discourse on timely issues

    PS: the use of “toddlers” and “childish” in two different posts makes me suspect they’re made by a single poster…just sayin’.

  • David Young

    Some common courtesy will help. If you want to whine and snivel, go opt out. But please, stand aside and let people who are more secure with their bodies pass by and enjoy the holiday with their families. It’s just common courtesy.

  • Sean

    @LeeAnn – So in other words, if I don’t agree with you, I should go else where? I’ve stated in several threads, that I don’t careless about the AIT screening, so I disagree with your childish fit about someone have a blurry image of your body. It doesn’t mean I’m mindless. It means I’d rather be safe on a plane and get to continue being a father for my daughters, rather then a burning pile of wreckage in some field in Pennsylvania. If this screening makes my weekly flights a little safer, I’m all for it.

    Now go ahead and post that there is no proof AIT screening would have caught the underwear bomber, but then you can’t tell me how many plans have been disrupted by the fact that the screening is now in place.

    Not sure what you have to hide, but I sure hope when you go swimming or to the beach, you where a baggy, sweat suit, rather then a bikini, otherwise, I’d call you a hypocrite.

  • LeeAnne

    @David Young – my mother has no choice BUT to opt out. She’s going to have to go through the full molestation – er, I mean “pat down” – anyway. She has a metal hip and a cement-injected spinal disk. If she’s going to have to be groped anyway, she might as well not get porno-scanned and irradiated too.

    As for your insensitive and completely illogical comment that those of us who wish to maintain our personal privacy are simply not “secure with our bodies” – you go right on ahead and allow yourself to be photographed naked. It has nothing whatsoever to do with security or pride in our bodies. It has to do with a basic sense of privacy, decency and modesty. Those of us who HAVE it, will choose not to have strangers eyeballing our genitals. The rest of you sheep can go right on ahead allowing this overbearing, ineffective, parental government agency to treat you like recalcitrant children.

  • Thomas

    @ John, Sean

    If you don’t like this site, no one is forcing you to visit, just like no one is going to grope me in the airport.

    @ Chris in NC

    I’ve been behind truckers blocking the road doing 55 mph. Remember the gas shortages?

    @ LeeAnn

    Thank You.

    @ Chris

    Thank you for keeping this discussion alive. I’m flying out tomorrow for my 19th international flight this year. It’s your site that I check on a daily basis.

    For those of you that can remember, the underwear bomber boarded his flight in Holland, NOT Holland Michigan! And forgive me, but when was the last time a country outside of the US was attacked by someone flying FROM the US?

    Support the US Constitution. Support Opt Out Day!

  • LeeAnne

    @Sean – you wrote: “So in other words, if I don’t agree with you, I should go else where?”

    Uh…no. You’re the one who said you were leaving. I didn’t tell you to leave. I just happily invited you not to let the door hit your arse on the way out. No loss as far as I’m concerned. Unfortunately it appears you weren’t actually serious – because you’re still on here, posting.

    You wrote: “Not sure what you have to hide, but I sure hope when you go swimming or to the beach, you where a baggy, sweat suit, rather then a bikini, otherwise, I’d call you a hypocrite.”

    I have nothing to hide, and what I wear at the beach is none of your business. if I wore anything that revealed as much detail as the pornoscans, I’d be arrested for indecent exposure. Unlike you, I exercise my right to CHOOSE who sees my naked body. Unlike you, I’m NOT okay with allowing strangers to see my unclothed genitalia. Clearly you haven’t seen the actual photos of what the scans look like. NOTHING is hidden. They are not blurry – they are strikingly distinct…to the point where a TSA agent was recently fired for blowing up after his co-workers, having seen his scan, teased him relentlessly about the small size of his penis. Your opinion might hold more credibility if it was based in reality. If you want to know what the scans really look like, check out this link: http://www.optoutday.com/

    Unlike you, I consider it an invasion of my privacy to view my naked body without my consent. But hey, some people just have no shame.

    So what was that you were saying about not being a part of this site anymore?

  • Aaron

    John, I’m not ashamed of my body, in fact I’ve vacationed in places where clothing is optional. But I like deciding when I take my clothes off. Same for my family.

    Tell me, John: If flying required that your wife and minor children (or grandchildren) had to take off their clothes and walk in front of a video camera, to be watched by unseen TSA agents in another room, would you still fly?

    And that’s not my only problem. I fly as much as five or six times a month. I’m not convinced these machines are safe. Cancer runs in my family, and I sure as hell don’t need the extra risk.

    So I can opt out, and the alternative is a search that, if it were done in any other circumstances, would be PROSECUTABLE as sexual harassment.

    Again, John, would you object to me (a complete stranger) running my hands along the underside of your wife’s breasts and along her thighs, brushing up against her vagina? Would you object to me sticking my hand down the back of your pants and in your crotch, rubbing the side of your testicles?

    If you’re not okay with that, then why are you okay with the TSA doing it?

    I’m not flying on Nov 24th, but next time I fly, I’m not walking into one of those scanners. I will allow myself to be groped for all to see.

    And I say good on Chris for helping to bring this issue out into the public eye. TSA is wasting taxpayer money on reactive programs that only serve to shut the barn door after the animals are out. Now they are violating our health and our constitutional rights. Worst yet, they’re lying about the public’s acceptance. National Opt Out Day has the potential to demonstrate what Americans REALLY feel about having their rights shredded.

    If you’re going to stop reading because Chris is pointing that out, fine — don’t let the door hit you on your TSA groping spot on the way out.

    Aaron

  • Aaron

    @Sean: Fuzzy images?

    http://tinyurl.com/28wstam

    When you can tell which side hangs lower, I’d call that a violation of privacy.

    Aaron

  • Kyle

    I am not concerned about my body being seen, but I am concerned about my rights as an American. Both the pat down and body scans are clearly against the 4th amendment:

    “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

    I find it frightening that most Americans and American politicians aren’t doing anything about this and that many of them even support this erosion of our rights.

  • kivrin

    I am not flying Wednesday, but if I were I probably would opt out. Civil disobedience is an acceptable way of demonstrating flaws in a system.

    My biggest issue with the TSA is the fact that I see their behavior as illegal, if not unconstitutional. One of the important aspects of the U.S. Constitution was/is to ensure uninhibited transportation across state lines. The freedom to travel between cities is as basic as the freedom of speech. To those who say it is a “privilege not a right” to fly, you are wrong. Airlines are a form of public transportation, just like a car, a bus, a ferry, etc. Would the TSA’s rules be acceptable for a bus ride across the city? Why then are they acceptable for a flight? As Americans we enjoy the freedoms of our nation because previous generations have ensured those freedoms by their very deaths.

    Let me close with words in honor of JFK, “Every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as he would wish to have his children treated.”

  • Eric

    @ Suzanna I guess I can therefore assume that you wouldn’t have any problem at all with someone peeping thru your bedroom window tonight.

  • Bill

    Wow, aren’t we all having fun. Let’s see what happens on Wednesday. I’m not flying, btw.

  • Sammy

    Chris, here’s a question. I’ve been reading in response to the video of the father taking his son’s shirt off to prove an 8 year old is not a terrorist that the TSA is saying that if anyone ask you to remove anything other than jacket, shoes, or belt to demand a supervisor, but on an article posted today by a local news station here in Vegas, they say the following,

    “Agents are even allowed to ask you to take off your skirt and put on a special gown or robe.” ( http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13553869 )

    Is the quote above true? And then my question for the TSA and Obama, is this part of the implementation of Obamacare? Buy a plane ticket and get a free prostate or gynecological exam?

    Okay, the last part is pure sarcasm on my part, but the first is a legitimate question.

  • Geoff

    Go through an ELAL screening once and you will see why the TSA are such rank beginners. CHECK IN: 6-8hours. SECURITY ROOMS: many. MACHINE GUNS: Lots Hum hum hum….I’m going to see something special today on the x-ray scanner and I’m going to tell the whole world. Elliott is correct to some point accept it or take a bus. We are going to be re-attactacted sooner than later, just because thaey hate us, so accept TSA.

  • MeanMeosh

    All I can say is, boy, am I glad I’m not flying tomorrow…

    @Geoff – “Go through an ELAL screening once and you will see why the TSA are such rank beginners. CHECK IN: 6-8hours. SECURITY ROOMS: many. MACHINE GUNS: Lots Hum hum hum….I’m going to see something special today on the x-ray scanner and I’m going to tell the whole world. Elliott is correct to some point accept it or take a bus. We are going to be re-attactacted sooner than later, just because thaey hate us, so accept TSA.”

    The problem with your argument is that El Al operates a TARGETED profiling program. They comb through every detail of your past and travel history, have trained behavioral detection officers check you out in line, and select travelers for additional, tighter security screening based on a variety of factors. Not everybody gets the machine gun treatment.

    The problem with the TSA is there is no rhyme or reason at all as to who gets their “special” treatment at the airport. There is absolutely no reason why an elderly gentleman wearing a urostomy bag should be subject to a groping via an enhanced pat-down, unless there is some intelligence out there on him that he poses a threat somehow. And that’s my point exactly. The TSA should be spending their time and resources on those who legitimately pose a threat to security, based on intelligence and/or probable cause. You may call it “profiling”, but how is our current system accomplishing anything aside from annoying innocent travelers?

  • Joe Farrell

    I think we have the solution to this entire issue – there will be 2 methods of screeening – one for US citizens, another for non-US citizens. Another reason to get a passport.

    We have been struggling with how to profile potential terrorists – well – its clear. There has not been a single airline terror incident performed or attempted by a United States citizen.

    Citizens get WTMD and the old style screening.

    Non-citizens get either the nudoscope or pat down.

    Until Al Qaeda can find a US citizen willing to blow themselves up in a such a manner as would not be detected by the WTMD – then we can use this method.

  • George

    How to survive on National Opt-Out Day when very few people who claim to support it will actually follow through on their day of travel? Don’t opt out, spend 10 seconds of your life in the scanner, forget about it and be on your way.

  • Jerry

    Thank you, Chris, for your continuing coverage of this issue. I am very interested in how it develops, and appreciate the updates. I already have a higher risk for skin cancer and thus do not wish to subject myself to unnecessary radiation, especially of this type which is concentrated primarily in the skin and underlying tissues. Thus if I must fly from an airport with these scanners, I will opt out. But if I have a choice, I will fly from an airport without the scanners, take the train, drive, or simply not travel.

  • Jeanne in NE

    @Joe Farrell: I like your plan, except, wasn’t the Faisal Shahzad a new U.S. citizen when he tried to blow up Times Square?

  • Tim

    I figured out how to protest: I QUIT FLYING. What I’d love to see is a National Don’t Fly Day. The airlines will get involved, then the TSA will do something. Until then, no airline or airport or TSA agent will get my business.

  • Ernest

    I just returned from an overseas trip and was extensively searched by the German version of TSA at FRA. They were professional but not so friendly and I can promise you there was no option. It was search or search. When I arrived at DFW to connect to my home airport, I passed the metal detector but was directed to the scanner. I told the agent I would prefer not to use it because I didn’t trust it. He directed me to an area and yelled ‘We have an opt out”. I felt he was trying to embarrase me but that was just a feeling. The searching agent arrived in 45 seconds, took me to the side area and asked if I had a problem being searched. He offered me a private screening which I rejected and he did a very complete job in searching me. It was almost identical to the one I received 10 hours earlier by the German police.

    He explained exactally what he was doing and I was impressed by his professionalism and politeness. I told him why I didn’t want to be scanned by the machine and he explained the difference between the backscatter radiation machine and the millimeter radio wave machine which DFW uses. I opted out because the same government that says the machines are safe also vouched for the safety of radioactive fallout in Navada test sites, DDT and Agent Orange. Their batting average isn’t so good so I tend to be a little distrustfull.

    My reasons for opting out had nothing to do with rebellion but you do what you feel is the right thing to do. I didn’t cause a backup or make a big deal about it but I think I might do the machine next time. I do know I would be unhappy if I missed a plane because of someone elses actions.

    It would be nice if our government would be proactive instead of on reacting to past threats but thats not the way it works and I doubt it will change in my lifetime. So when you go out there and do whatever it is you feel is right, just don’t involve me by making me late or ruining my day. I do enough dumb stuff that I don’t need your help.

  • Duke Nukem

    John & Sean: Here’s your TSA kick-back! $$$$$ Thank you for supporting the porno-scanners and the porno-patdowns! Thank you for supporting the Patriot Act! And most of all, thank you for supporting the new Soviet-Style Goverment! We will get you porno-scanner viewing jobs in the TSA!

    Psych!

  • FL Traveler

    Flight from BWI to JAX early this AM. All lines open at BWI – no wait…no problem w/screening. Hope return trip early next week goes as well.

  • Travler

    Papers, please. Show me you papers! If you do not have your papers you will be shot on sight!