What I don't understand is why anyone wouldn't opt-out. Even when I've been on the late side for my flights, the time a pat down takes doesn't make a difference in catching the flight.
They didn't tell me "you are now being subjected to the new millimeter wave scanner" or offer me the choice of a pat-down, they just pointed and herded my fiancee and I through the machine without any mention of what it was or that I had a choice to not go through it.
It was only after that I realized it was the new scanner I had just gone through, and I only realized that because I read sites like HN.
So, to other travellers: when you've opted-out did you basically have to halt in your tracks and demand an opt-out? I guess I naively thought opting out would be more obvious... but I was wrong.
The reason I play it cool is because about 1/3 of the time they end up pointing me toward the regular metal detector at the last minute (I guess I'm not a cute girl...)
The _least_ obnoxious was when the TSA agent heard my "I'd like to opt out" message, shouted "REFUSAL", made me stand _next_ to the scanner for approximately 15 minutes before finding someone who could pat me down, occasionally glaring at me for effect.
The pat-down was respectful, though it was done inches away from my 9 year old daughter, but the core of the issue, to me anyway, is that I object to both the new scanners AND the pat-down.
I've adopted an "only fly when I have to" policy, which meant 6 hour drives replaced flights to New York, but there is regrettably no way of avoiding all my business travel in lieu of driving.
Sometimes they do yell out "Opt Out" loudly, but I don't mind because it alerts someone to come pat me down, and when the security is short-staffed sometimes the wait can be a bit.
Also, to jchrisa's point, I can't imagine what, if anything, I might be doing to foster negativity. I'm a professional white male. I sometimes travel in suits, which may set off some innate animosity, but I've experienced the same negativity dressed in plain clothes.
I've often been described as "friendly-looking" and "approachable", and am careful to ensure that my demeanor isn't in any way offputting while I'm at the airport.
I'm not saying that I'm the nicest guy in the world or anything, but it genuinely surprised me to hear that other people who opt out don't share my experience.
They would find someone to pat you down along with another officer to watch the process. Pat down takes less than a minute but wait time for officers to become available can be up to 5-10 minutes.
However, when it is unavoidable (happens at smaller airports when there are fewer lines in my experience), I just stop in front of it and say in my most polite sweet little thing voice "no thank you" or "I don't want to go through the radiation scanner" when I'm told go through it. I've had people try and tell me it's safe and (gently?) badger me into doing it (at which point sometimes I try and offer a reason, but mostly I just say "I don't care"), but every time I've been on my toes enough to refuse, I've gotten the patdown instead. The TSA folks have sometimes gotten kinda freaked out/uptight or antsy, but it generally blows over pretty quickly and 80% of the time doesn't take much longer than the regular screening. The rest of the time, it takes them 15 minutes to find another lady agent to do the patdown, so I always start through security a little sooner if I can't see separate lines for a metal detector-only screening.
I also refuse to go to the 'private' screening area. If they're going to grope me, I'd rather it be in public in full view of everyone else.
(1)http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2011/11/15/europe-b...
Is there good, unbiased evidence of that? I don't trust the manufacturers nor the government, but I also don't believe because electromagnet waves are involved, it is inherently toxic.
The technology deployment is airport-specific, so you will only find one or the other at any given airport, e.g. O'Hare uses Backscatter, Midway uses mm wave.
La Guardia is the one airport serving a major US city that does not have any of the new scanners, which can be nice if you typically opt-out.
edit: never mind, the flyer talk pics are much better.
My real reason of opting out is to slow down the whole operation more than health concerns. Sometimes the pat downs are actually relaxing (like some sort of strange spa treatment). Sometimes they are rough when going up the leg until they meet resistance...but most of the time they are gentle.
I wanted to the last time I flew, but it was so crowded and TSA was being so rude to everyone and had already handled my baggage so roughly that they dropped my Macbook on the tile floor (Logan International), that I just went through the scanner rather than bothering with it and raising a bigger fuss.
I'd say a lot of people feel pressured into "just complying" because of long lines and mean looks.
On the other hand, I've been in airports where the agents are just as friendly as can be.
The fact that Michael Chertoff had a financial interest in the scanner company while TSA was examining them for safety should tell you everything you need to know.
TSA needs to be shut down.
I fly a lot, and the delays have gotten longer and longer over the past year -- recently I've been left waiting for 30 minutes or more. I would be surprised if this wasn't an intentional policy to coerce flyers to subject themselves to the pervscanner machines, just like when they originally instituted the policy of fondling your nutsack if you opted out. This is an effective strategy, I think, because when traveling on business that extra time really does make you want to say fuck it, I need to review the changes to the presentation one more time, I'll just go through the fucking porno machine.
IMO, the indignities Americans allow the TSA to subject them to are just one more sign of an empire in decline. Flying into the USA feels like entering a draconian police state from a sci-fi movie -- even compared to flying into an actual draconian police state like China, for fucks's sake.