Passengers uneasy with pat-downs

USA Today ^ | 12/14/2001 | Kitty Bean Yancey

[Utah Girl]

It's touch and go at the airport now. Just ask everyday travelers pulled out of line at security checkpoints in these days of ratcheted-up scrutiny and random searches. Pittsburgh grandmother Marguerite Petito was "totally embarrassed" recently in Chicago when a wand beeped, "and the lady asked if it was OK for her to feel my breasts to make sure I was not hiding anything," she recalls. "This she did in front of all these men that were in line. ... I thought, 'Here I am getting felt up in the middle of O'Hare airport!' " The suspicious metal turned out to be the underwire of her bra. Thursday, a passenger at Boston's Logan airport refused a screening and bolted after her bra set off a metal detector. She was let go after being questioned by police. Their close encounters are not isolated ones. With more wands waving at airports than in any Harry Potter tale, running the gantlet of newly toughened screenings can mean allowing the liberties generally accorded only to a date, mate or doctor.

[cricket]

"Also I read somewhere that some dogs of his enemies had chased Mohammed out of hiding, so the Muslims think they're all evil"

. . .Do remember reading - wish I had not - about Saddam Hussein's fun and games (ie evil) with dogs. . .for people/women; he did not like or he was just tired of. . .this is a little different of course, the dogs used for evil; but either way; surely no love lost for our canine friends. . .now I am wondering if ANY Muslims have dogs here; ala American style. . .

. . .on a more practical level; seems we are determined NOT to absorb the lessons learned by the Israelies on what to do re security; only hope that we do not end up 'too late smart' on that one; facts seem to indicate that we are darned close.

[cidrasm]

So, what's the deal with the "random" checks at the gate? Are the airlines trying to tell us that the security check point inspections are a joke (they are, but that's another story). Most of these random inspections are a farce. Southwest at least implements a computer based profiling selection criteria (last minute flight, change of flight, one way ticket, etc) the rest are purely at the whim of the people at the gate. I say this based on experience over the last couple of weeks. On the Southwest flight in which I was checked, my ticket had a specific mark, the same mark which every other passenger that got the extra search had (btw, I changed my original return ticket from United to Southwest a couple days before the flight because United cancelled the original flight which triggered the profile). When searched by United, it was purely random (yeah, this is really helpful, PC bullshit at it's best, don't want to offend anyone with targetted searches based on behaviour).

[Utah Girl]

Thanks for sharing your story! I guess I view the extra security as an inconvenience. If some people don't like, fine, then drive, take the bus, or Amtrak. I think the security will be getting better and quicker with more technology and better training. I wish that the Republicans hadn't caved so quickly on the bill, but that is the way it goes. Something has to be done. I know many want to carry a gun on the airplane, but how do you tell who is a good guy carrying and who is a bad one???

[upchuck]

Goin' to Fl next week to see my brother for Christmas. And I'll be driving! I got some CDs, some audio books and I can always listen the Rush, Hugh, Mike Medved, et.al. Lots more interesting than sitting on a plane bored to death and putting up with all this extra security.

[Utah Girl]

I'm going to California over the Christmas holidays and I'm driving. But when I go on business, I don't have too much choice. Driving from Utah to the East coast for a business trip just isn't practical. Have a good trip though! I love listening to books on tape when I drive long distances.

[Lurker]

Here's hoping you never have to learn about the cavity search....

L

[Lurker]

Be calm and respectful during a pat-down, but know that you have the right to ask that it be done by a person of the same sex and in a private area.

Oh boy, you mean I actually have the Constitutional Right to demand that someone of the same sex pat me down in a private area?

Well, I for one will sleep much better knowing that.....

(Morons......I am completely surrounded by fricking morons....)

L

[Utah Girl]

By doing "random" checks at the gate, they are trying to avoid offending anyone, especially Arab men between the ages of 20 and 50...The check system needs to be made much more sophisticated like you said. Look for certain signs and pull those people in. I'd rather have some people with hurt feelings than 4000 more dead people.

[Utah Girl]

Ewwwwwww. But I know what you mean about being patted down. Bad enough by a person of the opposite sex that you don't know, but almost perverse down by a masculine woman or an effeminate man.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Something has to be done

Something can be done and it would make more sense. I said it on September 12th and I'll keep saying it. If we throw the foreigners out of the country who fit the terrorist profile, we greatly diminish the chances of attack and American citizens don't lose their freedom. We don't owe these people anything. We are under no obligation to allow any foreigner to come here or stay here. These people are guests of the United States and they can be told to leave at our discretion.

The government won't throw the non-citizen, middle eastern males out of America to make us more secure. The men who are most likely to cause trouble should be the focus NOT grandmas flying to visit families. The feds would rather turn our country into a police state and keep welcoming the troublemakers as before than do the sensible and effective thing to greatly reduce the threat.

[Lurker]

I am sure my 90 year grandmother will not be alarmed at all when the 6 dollar an hour Airport Security Lady takes her into a private area and pats her down either.

(Everywhere I look, I see them. Stupid people.....)

L

[Utah Girl]

Amen. Start with the Middle Eastern men who have visa problems and work from there. Enforce the immigration laws. There's a lot that can be done...

[max61]

And if I get searched, I get searched.

I guess we'll know by the smile on your face when they do body cavity searches.

---max

[Utah Girl]

Ewwww, again. They're not doing body cavity searches.

[B Knotts]

I know many want to carry a gun on the airplane, but how do you tell who is a good guy carrying and who is a bad one???

You don't have to; if the good guys have guns, the bad guys dare not try to use theirs.

I can assure you of this: I'm not flying the commercial airlines, as long as flying them involves suspending my rights, and being treated as a criminal suspect. No, thanks.

[Righty1]

Two words; Effective Profiling or the next time I see them body searching a 75 year old partially crippled grandmother I'm going to beat them with a cane!

[GnL]

"They feel they have to justify their job."

I'd rather they justify their feel.

[Exit148]

Wouldn't it make sense to have women automatically check women and men automatically check men? And --- behind a screen? Or is that too sensible? (I'd probably yell "Get your hands off me!!!!! LOL!)

[Hildy]

Don't get me started. I don't mind getting searched, but the airlines had better make sure they are staffed enough to do this in a timely fashion. I had to wait on line for an hour last time I was traveling. When I inquired why they didn't have more people helping, I was made to feel like I was anti-American or something. Then, before I boarded the plane, they searched me AGAIN. All the same people. Now, don't you think it would have been better for them to take the opportunity to search DIFFERENT people? Again, when I questioned the policy, they almost took me away.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey concedes that some security measures "may seem time-consuming and intrusive, but the reality is they are absolutely necessary to keep you and your fellow passengers safe...."

THE BIG BROTHER AWARD