TSA New Procedure Poll

[OrganicAnn]

I can't believe someone hasn't posted a poll yet. Since 80% of Americans supposed are fine with the new screening/pat down procedures, how does that match up with WTMers. (I'll bet it doesn't match up).

 

So the 'naked' scanners and invasive pat downs - are you for or against them and will it change how much you fly?

Edited November 21, 2010 by OrganicAnn

[myfatherslily]

Okay, I just HAD to select the one that you said not to select!!:) I don't like the new procedure and it's quite icky to me. I would be totally freaked out about having to deal with it... if I ever flew anymore. So it won't reduce how much I fly.... lol... sorry, I just HAD to do it!!!

[Joker]

I don't like the new procedures and don't want to take a chance that my dds would be selected for the scanner or pat down. We will be traveling by car from Florida to Vegas in April. It's not that bad though since we like road trips but we were planning on flying to give us more time there. Dh will take 2 1/2 weeks off for the trip. I think it's sad how many just don't care or don't realise what they're giving away.

[texasmama]

We don't ever fly anywhere, but I wouldn't want to be radiated or groped. Neither seems a good option.

[Sara R]

Because of the whole mastectomy/reconstruction/prosthesis thing, I'd have to be felt up even if I went through the nude-o-scope, because I would look weird on the nude-o-scope (gee, thanks for the reminder!) So, nope, I won't be flying until they change the rules on this one.

[Margo out of lurking]

I haven't flown in 4 or 5 years, so I chose Other. However, my dd has flown a few times by herself and plans to this summer. I'm waiting to see how things pan out. I don't want to have to choose, gee, dear, if you want to go, you might have to have someone feel you up. And down. Anywhere else, they could get arrested, but I'll be right there to watch!

 

I'm very upset about this latest attack on our freedom. I've stupidly, passively sat by before when our rights were taken away (I thought the Patriot Act was a great idea). I was an idiot.

 

On the plus side, I guess, is that it's made for some excellent discussions with our kids...

[helena]

I'm not into it, but I'll keep flying the same amount.

[ChristineW]

I picked other. Travelling with three young children from SF to the midwest or Ottawa isn't an option. I hate the new procedures but I want to see my family and Dh wants to visit his grandmother's cottage in the summer. We only fly to visit family so we won't reduce the amount we fly. But I am not ok with the new procedures--way too invasive.

 

Christine W

[wendybird]

I will not fly with these measures in place. At all.

[Jamee]

Had to select the "other." We don't have a choice. If we don't fly, we won't be returning the US again. Guess i just have to hope that things change some before we do have to fly again.

[jld]

Had to select the "other." We don't have a choice. If we don't fly, we won't be returning the US again. Guess i just have to hope that things change some before we do have to fly again.

 

Yeah, how do we get from India to America without flying? Some of us are really stuck.

[Amira]

I picked other because I'm another person who needs to fly internationally. There's no other way to get to Asia.

[Jen+4dc]

If I have a choice, I won't be flying. Sadly, being a military family we live on the opposite coast from our extended families so to see anyone we have to fly. Luckily for us, my bro got married this summer and we saw everyone then. We don't plan on flying again until we move in a year and a half. Hopefully by then we as a country will have "wised up." There's no way on God's green earth I'd put my dc through that security!

 

Seriously, folks, if this is really what we're going to do then the terrorists have won whether they blow anything else up or not.

[TheReader]

Aargh, I accidentally marked "I"m okay with it" when I meant "other."

 

One - I want to see the new measures myself to decide if I'm okay with it or not. The body scanner doesn't seem as huge a deal to me as some are making it, though I'm imagining how we'll convince our youngest son, age 5.5, who hates to follow rules, that he MUST stand there, still, arms raised, etc. while they scan him.

 

Two - I way way way prefer the body scan over the pat down, for all of my family. So, as long as we can truly avoid the pat down by agreeing to the body scan, then I'm okay. If any one of us is subjected to a pat down, when we agree to the body scan, well, then I'll freak out and things will not be okay.

 

Three -- I've adopted a "I have no choice, so get over it and shut up*, as these people (TSA) have the power to make your life miserable if you argue with them" attitude. We HAVE to fly (Brazil to US) if we want to visit our family. So, knowing I can't get around it, I'm honestly trying not to care.

 

*ETA: Sorry - I mean that as directed at MYSELF, not at anyone else. Telling MYSELF to "get over it and shut up" as in "don't make a fuss at the airport, because the TSA folks can make your life a living h-e-l-l if you do" I did NOT/do not mean that as anyone else should just get over it and shut up. That is purely me talking to myself.

 

It's entirely different when you truly have no choice vs. when you can talk about the theoretical flying you will or will not do in the future.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I picked other. Travelling with three young children from SF to the midwest or Ottawa isn't an option. I hate the new procedures but I want to see my family and Dh wants to visit his grandmother's cottage in the summer. We only fly to visit family so we won't reduce the amount we fly. But I am not ok with the new procedures--way too invasive.

 

Christine W

 

We don't have options other than flying for our travel. Not from Japan to the US.

 

I'd be much more stoic about the proceedures if I felt that they had already done everything else possible to identify individuals who fit profiles for those who had already committed or attempted in flight terrorism.

[Heather in Neverland]

Had to select the "other." We don't have a choice. If we don't fly, we won't be returning the US again. Guess i just have to hope that things change some before we do have to fly again.

 

This is us as well. I don't like it but I DO fly so I guess I will just deal with it.

[Carrie12345]

I'm another other. I honestly haven't been able to wrap up all of my different thoughts on it into a neat conclusion. At least, not on any blanket scale.

 

For me as an individual, I don't have a problem with choosing between the scan and a thorough pat down if I want to get somewhere. I don't fly very often at all and, if the destination is important to me, I'll do it.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about it in regard to the kids, and I can't make up my mind on my feelings about these things being mandatory for the whole population.

 

Right now, dh says he'll avoid flying at all costs. If a really good opportunity came along (business or pleasure) I have a feeling he'd be rethinking that, knowing him.

[knit247]

I also voted "Other". We haven't been home in 17 mos., and it'll be just over two years when we do go home for a visit next summer. If we decided not to fly because of the new procedures we wouldn't see family. Not an option. I just hope that my DDs and I are treated respectfully...

[Word Nerd]

I voted won't be flying, but we drive to see family and have no plans to fly anyway. I'm thankful I don't have to answer this Would You Rather question indefinitely.

[Mama Geek]

We may have to fly depending on where dh works. At this point though if it is anywhere in the lower 48 I'll drive.

[Margo out of lurking]

We don't have options other than flying for our travel. Not from Japan to the US.

 

 

Well, you could travel Google's suggested route and avoid flying. Note particularly Step 27, and travel light.

 

(Okay, I wanted to add a little levity into an otherwise serious topic.)

[Giraffe]

Well, you could travel Google's suggested route and avoid flying. Note particularly Step 27, and travel light.

 

(Okay, I wanted to add a little levity into an otherwise serious topic.)

 

:lol::lol::lol:

I should look up the route from the US to Turkey!

 

Seriously though, another other here as well. I don't have a choice given half my family is overseas. And we live halfway across the country from the other half. We have to fly, but I don't like these procedures.

[Dmmetler]

FWIW, my parents had to deal with it flying out from DC yesterday (and my dad set off the scanner and had to go through the pat down) and they didn't see it as a big deal.

 

I do plan to reduce how much we fly, though. The idea that it's OK to get a full-body X-ray on every flight when even at the dentist they use the lead aprons to reduce exposure to the rest of the body (or that I had to stay behind a shield and couldn't even hold my 5 yr old's other hand when she was getting her broken bone X-ray-ed last summer) seems very wrong. I'm not at all concerned about showing my body-but honestly, I'd rather have a place to strip my clothes, send THEM through the X-ray, and walk through the metal detector in a hospital gown than go through an X-ray repeatedly. And I really don't want my daughter having that much more cumulative radiation exposure in her life-time. Since in most years we fly 6 or more times, that adds up. So we won't be flying if we can get there on Amtrak. And maybe not if we can get there on Greyhound (I don't trust myself to drive long distances-my motor skills go WAY down as I get tired, and more than an hour or so on the road wears me out).

[JessReplanted]

I don't know which option to select in the poll. I'm completely freaked out by the information that has come out about the scanners and the pat downs. And yet I don't see 'not flying' to be an option. We are flying the day after Christmas to see family. And then we'll be flying again in February, to see family. If we don't fly, then we don't see family. :tongue_smilie: (Driving 11 or 12 hours with 3 kids is not an option for me).

[Murmer]

Already canceled our plane tickets...I cannot fly with 2 small children and no policy in place other than get molested. So we are driving to Utah next week....and CA in February...good thing my kids are pretty good in the car.

[Mom2J112903]

I'm not into it, but I'll keep flying the same amount.

 

:iagree: We are flying out in a week to Disney and will be flying again in 3wks after we return from Disney.

[NanceXToo]

We don't ever fly anywhere, but I wouldn't want to be radiated or groped. Neither seems a good option.

 

:iagree:

 

I didn't vote since I never fly anyway.

[Elaine]

I want to select, I won't be flying, but after reading an article in the Canada Free Press, I am torn.

 

"Continuing the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) egregiously-intrusive body-search-and-x-ray policy to insure a drastic reduction in passengers and the ultimate destruction of the airline industry, the better to nationalize yet another market-driven industry."

 

The Canadians can see it, why can't we? The bigger picture in more control, and if we don't fly, we are submitting to the government's agenda. I feel like I am going to keep flying (Which is once a year) and just be vigilant about ending this practice. We, shockingly, have here in NJ a few reps who are making a lot of noise about ending this procedure. I think the best way to go is to record everything that is done at the airports and continue to put pressure on our elected officials.

 

I don't play many drama cards, but this whole situation has me physically sick. :glare:

[mommaduck]

I don't fly anyhow...even with family being 12hrs away, it's cheaper to drive, take a train, or take a bus anyhow...and yes, I would do that with seven kids! I don't understand the "I can't drive that far with two/three kids" bit. I really don't. When I was a kid, military brat, we drove from Tacoma to Chicago to see my stepdad's family, then from Chicago to San Francisco to catch out plane to Hawaii and the another to Guam. Same thing on the way back...plane hopping from the islands to San Fran, then drove to Illinois. Wasn't a big deal and was quite a fun adventure!

 

I do have a sister that will fly to see us next year. However, she is choosing smaller airports to leave and arrive at. Ones without TSA scanners and pat downs.

[Elaine]

Already canceled our plane tickets...I cannot fly with 2 small children and no policy in place other than get molested. So we are driving to Utah next week....and CA in February...good thing my kids are pretty good in the car.

 

I don't know if you read the latest news, but thay have eliminated the pat downs for children under 12. I read that last night, I have to find the article.

 

I find it absolutely disgusting that you were forced to cancel your plans.:grouphug:

 

 

EDIT!

Found it: Article

Edited November 21, 2010 by Elaine

[mazakaal]

We don't have a choice. If we don't fly, we won't be returning the US again. Guess i just have to hope that things change some before we do have to fly again.

 

 

Me too. I voted that I don't like it, and I'll fly less, but I can't just stop flying. I'm hoping to make a trip in March without the kids. I'll just put up with the pat down if I have to. I have no plans to travel with the kids, and I'm hoping that the regulations change before we make another trip to the States as a family.

 

PS I'm trying to figure out what a woman can do to make the whole experience as icky as possible for a TSA worker, like the kilt sans underwear for men. Any suggestions?

[mazakaal]

Well, we have an ocean to cross. And I cruise tickets would just be out of our price range.

[DarlaS]

Well, you could travel Google's suggested route and avoid flying. Note particularly Step 27, and travel light.

 

(Okay, I wanted to add a little levity into an otherwise serious topic.)

 

Hey! You get to stop for a breather in Hawaii! That's not so bad. ;)

 

They have similar directions from NYC to London, I believe. Except then, you get to swim.

[TX Bluebonnet]

Video of a young boy being strip searched by TSA in the middle of an airport. My ds would have freaked and I probably would have gotten myself arrested.

 

We had plans to go to Hawaii this summer. Our first real family vacation but, unless things change we will not be flying.

 

Edited November 21, 2010 by TX Bluebonnet

[mazakaal]

My concern with the body scanner is the possible medical ramifications of the radiation. I'm really not bothered by the nude-picture thing. The TSA officer looking at it is seeing literally thousands of pictures a day. I really don't think s/he would be getting any pleasure from it. But I have heard that there is a risk of cancer or cornea damage. I'd like to see more research on it.

[elegantlion]

I don't like it, but we don't have plans to fly anywhere soon anyway.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Video of a young boy being strip searched by TSA in the middle of an airport. My ds would have freaked and I probably would have gotten myself arrested.

 

We will not be flying.

 

 

that was not a "strip search" and the FATHER removed the boy's shirt - it says so in the video description.

 

i'm not saying anyone would *enjoy* the situation...but i don't think it helps when people make something into something that it isn't...he was not "strip searched by TSA".

[phathui5]

Had to pick "other."

 

I'm against the new procedures and am icked out, but am still going to fly rather than drive for work conferences. I'm flying from New York to Oregon in the spring, so I'll take being molested at the airport over driving two full days from one coast to the other. Luckily, I'm flying alone, so the kids won't be subjected to it.

[hsbaby]

We will have to fly in February as we already have a family vacation payed for. I don't like it, but am not willing to tell the kids we're not going.....they ate way too excited. I will try to limit flying in the future.

[MBM]

We cannot get refunds for the tickets we've bought for our two upcoming vacations. Thereafter, we won't fly unless something changes. Dh will have to fly occasionally for work, though.

 

And how about the members of Congress? Exempt! Oh, yeah. That's fair. (snark intended) No surprise, though.

 

I plan to take off my sweater and show them the twins. They can look, but they can't touch! LOL.

[Jenny in Atl]

I don't like it, but we don't have plans to fly anywhere soon anyway.

 

Nor the $$$ to, even if we wanted to. :tongue_smilie:

[CAMom]

Sorry to select "other" but the other categories didn't really fit.:)

 

I'm really opposed to the new standards! I didn't choose that we will reduce how often we fly because we really only fly about once every 18 months or so. But I also didn't select that I'll refuse to fly because we have one trip in the spring that will require a flight.

 

So, I hate the new procedures but am not going to cancel my one planned trip.:)

[elfinbaby]

I only fly about once a year for an awesome beach vacation w/dh. It's our one week to hang out w/o kids and relax. I am 100% completely committed to turning around and walking out of the airport if TSA does not turn these ludicrous violations of my privacy around. Dh and I will have to settle for less extravagant plans b/c I'm not falling for this invasion of privacy disguised as security measures.

[BigMamaBird]

I am against the new requirements. We haven't had any plans to fly, but SIL may be getting married in Vegas and dh and I have decided to drive if she does.

[Sputterduck]

I only fly about once a year for an awesome beach vacation w/dh. It's our one week to hang out w/o kids and relax. I am 100% completely committed to turning around and walking out of the airport if TSA does not turn these ludicrous violations of my privacy around. Dh and I will have to settle for less extravagant plans b/c I'm not falling for this invasion of privacy disguised as security measures.

 

You can't walk out. Once you have started the security process, you cannot leave. There is a 10,000 dollar fine.

 

Just ask this guy who got it all on video and was told that he gave up his rights when he bought his ticket. He refused the scanner and didn't want his genitals groped during the pat down. He was told to leave and now they are fining him 10 grand for leaving, even though it was the head TSA guy at the airport who told him to leave.

 

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

[EKS]

I selected the non-other choice as I am not thrilled with the new procedures but will also probably not reduce how much we fly (which isn't much).

[Gwenhwyfar]

You can't walk out. Once you have started the security process, you cannot leave. There is a 10,000 dollar fine.

 

Just ask this guy who got it all on video and was told that he gave up his rights when he bought his ticket. He refused the scanner and didn't want his genitals groped during the pat down. He was told to leave and now they are fining him 10 grand for leaving, even though it was the head TSA guy at the airport who told him to leave.

 

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

 

does anyone else smell a bit of "hey! 15 minutes of fame!" with this guy?

 

i mean really... he went there "somewhat prepared" (his words) for the confrontation, filmed things, used very specific *language intended to get attention, etc etc.

 

it bugs me.

 

 

* what's the word i want... aggressive? inflammatory? in-your-face?

[eternalknot]

This changes how much we fly as a family.

 

My kids' dad flies home every week to see our kids. He's not fond of the pat-downs, but he's not afraid of them either. He's willing to go through that to see the kids. His drive would be five hours, and he's thinking about alternating weeks of flying and driving. It'd be an extra expense because he currently flies for free (I work for an airline). This means boycotting wouldn't be effective, either.

 

He gets the kids for two weeks in December to visit his family in another state. He decided to forego that trip this year to avoid subjecting our kids to the new TSA procedures. I think I found a way around it, using nearby airports that don't yet have the machines. I'm hopeful that works out and the kids can go this year, because once all airports have the machines I will severely limit their air travel. We may miss out on my family's Christmas celebration this year (out-of-state) because I don't have enough time off to make the drive, and I'm not going to fly the kids out there if our local airport puts all of the machines into active status between now and then (we currently have them, but not all are in use as of yet). I love my family and it would be the first year we haven't celebrated with them, ... we'd be crushed to miss it, but wrong is wrong - and the TSA's new procedures are wrong. I can't justify putting my kids through that, especially my five year old.

 

They fly very frequently, and it's one of the main reasons we homeschool :(

[Sputterduck]

does anyone else smell a bit of "hey! 15 minutes of fame!" with this guy?

 

i mean really... he went there "somewhat prepared" (his words) for the confrontation, filmed things, used very specific *language intended to get attention, etc etc.

 

it bugs me.

 

 

* what's the word i want... aggressive? inflammatory? in-your-face?

 

I don't know. If I *had* to fly, I'd certainly go in fully prepared. I would also film it. I would also refuse the scanner and refuse to let them touch my genitals.

[OLG]

...... I wouldn't want to be radiated or groped. Neither seems a good option.

 

Exactly!

 

And why is it that this whole procedure was just dropped on us without any warning or explanation? The 'diaper bomber' was last Xmas and we somehow survived almost a year w/o incident. I say security should focus its efforts elsewhere. This is a huge invasion of privacy.

 

Mary