Wednesday
Nov242010
November 24, 2010 A wee protest
Skirting the issue:
A loosely organized effort dubbed National Opt-Out Day plans to use flyers, T-shirts and, in one case, a Scottish kilt to highlight what some call unnecessarily intrusive security screenings. Others feared holdups: More than 40 million people plan to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA, with just more than 1.6 million flying — a 3.5 percent increase in fliers from last year…
Robert Shofkom wasn’t too worried about delayed flights, maybe just strong breezes.
The 43-year-old from Georgetown, Texas, said he planned for weeks to wear a traditional kilt — sans skivvies — to display his outrage over body scanners and aggressive pat-downs while catching his Wednesday flight out of Austin.
Reader Comments (4)
I removed the sporran and kilt pin and put them through the xray machine, but left the sgian dubh at home for obvious reasons. None of the millimeter wave machines were in operation, so I went through the metal detector. The three buckles set off the alarm. I explained they were integral to the kilt, and couldn't be removed. Into the box I went, waiting for the lucky TSO.
He was polite, and explained the new procedure to me. I was invited to have the pat-down in a private room. I declined, and said I was happy to have it in full view of the other passengers.
I fully expected him to stick his hands inside the kilt, but apparently that's not how it goes. He had me stand at 45 degrees, legs apart, and he patted me down - with the backs of his hands, strangely enough. At no time did his hands get anywhere near my 'junk', thanks to the weight of the material in the kilt. I'm sure had I been wearing trousers I would have been examined much closer. The pat-down was a lot less vigorous than the one I received at ORD when I opted out a couple of months ago. It took a grand total of 5 minutes from reaching the metal detector to being told I was free to go.
After the pat-down was complete, another TSO came over to comment that he wished he could wear his kilt to work, but management wouldn't permit. We chatted for a few minutes about Scotland, and it was all quite pleasant. I'm sure he was evaluating my behaviour and attitude in case I was more than just eccentric.
A non-scientific sample size of one checkpoint on one day at one airport, but I would consider it a successful opt out that did not result in my junk being touched.
Eccentric would 've been you painting your face blue and shouting "FREEDOM" during the pat down. The TSA patting you down was probably worried you'd lift your kilt up. ;-)
(I'm married to a clansman but he doesn't do kilts......doesn't have the knees for it)!
Besides Austin TSA is actually rather efficient, nice and non-intrusive.