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I've opted out every time I've flown in the US since June 2014. Last Sunday when I flew out from Boston, I opted out as usual and the TSA officer mentioned tha

I've opted out every time I've flown in the US since June 2014. Last Sunday when I flew out from Boston, I opted out as usual and the TSA officer mentioned that I'd be subject to a new pat down, called the universal pat down. (I was not subject to this version of the pat-down the day before, on Saturday). Honestly, the only difference between that pat-down and all my previous pat-downs was the way they approached my groin area. Previously they'd put one hand on each side of my leg and go up until they made contact with my genitals. Then they'd repeat with the other leg. Sometimes, but this was rare, they'd push up a bit into the area. This time, in addition to the normal pat-down procedure, the officer interlocked his hands and then rubbed my genitals, first vertically, moving horizontally, and then horizontally, moving vertically.

cheez 10y ago
This sounds like a bad handjob...
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  A bad one is better than none at all. I think we'll be seeing a spike in the number of opt-outs pretty soon.
- citruspi 10y ago
  I enjoy messing with the officers. Once, an officer mentioned that my jeans were very stiff and I said that I'd just run the laundry before coming to the airport. I offered to take them off for him but he quickly declined my offer. Anyways, I'll occasionally moan softly if I want to fuck with the officer a bit, as if I might be enjoying my pat-down a bit too much. :) I'm flying tomorrow and next week, so I think I'm going to be moaning quite a bit more in the near future.
  - cheez 10y ago
    I opt to drive. People don't understand why, but the freedom of not being molested physically or technologically is important for my mental state.
    - citruspi 10y ago
      Totally fair. And I love road trips. If I could do more, I would. However: 1. I don't own a car. 2. When I've rented cars, it's cost me ~$100 USD a day. I normally travel for anywhere from two days to a month at a time. On average, probably a week to a week and a half. So then this quickly becomes a very, very expensive trip - ~$700 to $1000 USD compared to $300 to $500 USD for a flight. On top of that, I travel an average of once or twice a month. So car rentals are simply out of the question for me for most trips. 3. I live in Boston, but places I've visited in the last year include New York, Rochester, Vancouver, Lincoln (Nebraska), Montreal, Las Vegas, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Doha, and Reykjavik. It's simply impractical (if not impossible) to drive to most of those places from Boston. The three that are manageable are New York, Rochester, and Montreal (and I did do the Boston to Rochester and back drive in a rental instead of flying twice). I've considered purchasing a car explicitly so that I'd be able to travel without flying a little more, but leasing is impractical due to limits on miles per year and I'm not ready to outright purchase a car. Either way, a car would come with additional costs (the cost of the car, maintenance, parking, etc.) and wouldn't be able to replace even ~15% of my flights, so I think it's just impractical for me at this point of time.
      - ryanhuff 10y ago
        At $100/day, you must be renting premium vehicles. Last week, I rented a "standard-size" car for a business trip (Saturday pick-up, Wednesday return). It was about $150 total.
        citruspi 10y ago
        Nope. That's what happens when you're under 25 (or in my case for one of the trips, under 21) and you need to purchase insurance and all the other fancy stuff and then also pay fees for convention center surcharges, airport surcharges, etc. I've got one receipt[0] on hand for $202.98 for 1 day. I've also reserved a car for four days (4th to the 7th) for around $130 but when I picked it up, I ended up paying $450+ after insurance and the toll device was added on. The device was required because the state I live in (Massachusetts) has removed toll booths, so you can't pay by coins/cash. I was required to pay a fixed fee per day for four days for the device, despite the fact that I actually only drove on two days. The fee includes unlimited charges, so it might have made sense if I was on the highway everyday, but I was not. The frustrating thing is that there's a lot of rental companies where you'll make the reservation for like $130 and they don't tell you how much insurance and the other stuff costs because it's different in each location. So you don't know you're getting fucked until you're signing the paper at the pick up area and it's too late. If I'd known it was going to be $450+, I'd have just booked a flight in the first place. [0]: http://imgur.com/a/UmkcI http://imgur.com/a/UmkcI Edit: And then if you're wondering why I didn't just switch to two one-day car rentals instead of one four-day rental to avoid paying for insurance, the toll device, etc. for the two days I wasn't driving, it's because then the price goes up significantly because it's a one way car rental - see[0].
  - oculusthrift 10y ago
    sounds funny until their homophobia causes them to arrest you.
mos_basik 10y ago
Almost certainly offtopic, but I'm curious what happened in June 2014.
- citruspi 10y ago
  Honestly, nothing interesting :) That was the day I moved to California for my first internship. It was the first time I was flying by myself after turning 18 and I was getting ready to queue up for the security line and I just said fuck it, I'm done. Prior to that day, I'd mostly flown with my family, who put up with, but don't empathize with my dislike for law enforcement (not that you could call the TSA that). Even when I later told them that I'd started opt-ing out, they didn't really understand or agree with it. In addition, I've always thought that the scanners were more security theatre than actually useful and at more than $150,000 a pop, all that money could go to so many better uses. Since I was starting my first internship, I was also going to start paying taxes. Taxes which contribute to these systems. I can't opt-out of my taxes contributing to what I consider to be useless contraptions, but I can opt-out of using said contraptions (for now at least). It's also a simple way that I can communicate that I'm not complacent with the system. At this point, my "airport security playbook" is pretty much: 1. Disable Touch ID on all my devices and temporarily change the passwords 2. Confirm that FileVault is enabled for all laptops 3. Turn off all electronic devices. 4. Opt-out Unrelated, but on that flight to San Francisco, I decided to become a vegan. A lot of different stuff aligned that day. :)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
headShrinker 10y ago
As someone who is familiar with the standard patdown, this new procedure sounds gross.
- citruspi 10y ago
  Another way to think of it is that you're getting more bang for your buck ;) /s In addition to your taxes funding this system, each passenger pays a 9/11 fee[0] of $5.60 per one-way trip. Anyone who receives a pat-down is basically getting a little more intimate action from a handsome (wo)man in uniform. /s But yeah, I think it's unnecessary and stupid. Having said that, I am glad that I have the option to opt-out - I'd prefer to opt-out and get my genitalia rubbed than to have no other option but to go through the scanners. [0]: https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees
  - nojvek 10y ago
    I once opted out. The only problem is it takes 10x longer to get out of the scanner. I had to wait for a guy to come. He then explained that he'll touch my groin area. Then he proceeded to basically soft rape me. It felt very uncomfortable. Took me total of 5 minutes. I got a feeling they want to make people so uncomfortable they don't opt-out. I had no idea about TSA tax. America is a really weird country. It's so war and military driven it baffles me.
2_listerine_pls 10y ago
> I've opted out every time I've flown in the US since June 2014. Is it optional?
- citruspi 10y ago
  Well, you can go through the scanner if you'd like (which is what most people do), but the TSA can require you to get a pat-down. You can also opt-out of the scanner (which is what I do) and get a pat-down, but the TSA is not required to allow you to opt-out.

cheez 10y ago

This sounds like a bad handjob...

Cyph0n 10y ago
A bad one is better than none at all. I think we'll be seeing a spike in the number of opt-outs pretty soon.
citruspi 10y ago
I enjoy messing with the officers. Once, an officer mentioned that my jeans were very stiff and I said that I'd just run the laundry before coming to the airport. I offered to take them off for him but he quickly declined my offer. Anyways, I'll occasionally moan softly if I want to fuck with the officer a bit, as if I might be enjoying my pat-down a bit too much. :) I'm flying tomorrow and next week, so I think I'm going to be moaning quite a bit more in the near future.
- cheez 10y ago
  I opt to drive. People don't understand why, but the freedom of not being molested physically or technologically is important for my mental state.
  - citruspi 10y ago
    Totally fair. And I love road trips. If I could do more, I would. However: 1. I don't own a car. 2. When I've rented cars, it's cost me ~$100 USD a day. I normally travel for anywhere from two days to a month at a time. On average, probably a week to a week and a half. So then this quickly becomes a very, very expensive trip - ~$700 to $1000 USD compared to $300 to $500 USD for a flight. On top of that, I travel an average of once or twice a month. So car rentals are simply out of the question for me for most trips. 3. I live in Boston, but places I've visited in the last year include New York, Rochester, Vancouver, Lincoln (Nebraska), Montreal, Las Vegas, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Doha, and Reykjavik. It's simply impractical (if not impossible) to drive to most of those places from Boston. The three that are manageable are New York, Rochester, and Montreal (and I did do the Boston to Rochester and back drive in a rental instead of flying twice). I've considered purchasing a car explicitly so that I'd be able to travel without flying a little more, but leasing is impractical due to limits on miles per year and I'm not ready to outright purchase a car. Either way, a car would come with additional costs (the cost of the car, maintenance, parking, etc.) and wouldn't be able to replace even ~15% of my flights, so I think it's just impractical for me at this point of time.
    - ryanhuff 10y ago
      At $100/day, you must be renting premium vehicles. Last week, I rented a "standard-size" car for a business trip (Saturday pick-up, Wednesday return). It was about $150 total.
      - citruspi 10y ago
        Nope. That's what happens when you're under 25 (or in my case for one of the trips, under 21) and you need to purchase insurance and all the other fancy stuff and then also pay fees for convention center surcharges, airport surcharges, etc. I've got one receipt[0] on hand for $202.98 for 1 day. I've also reserved a car for four days (4th to the 7th) for around $130 but when I picked it up, I ended up paying $450+ after insurance and the toll device was added on. The device was required because the state I live in (Massachusetts) has removed toll booths, so you can't pay by coins/cash. I was required to pay a fixed fee per day for four days for the device, despite the fact that I actually only drove on two days. The fee includes unlimited charges, so it might have made sense if I was on the highway everyday, but I was not. The frustrating thing is that there's a lot of rental companies where you'll make the reservation for like $130 and they don't tell you how much insurance and the other stuff costs because it's different in each location. So you don't know you're getting fucked until you're signing the paper at the pick up area and it's too late. If I'd known it was going to be $450+, I'd have just booked a flight in the first place. [0]: http://imgur.com/a/UmkcI http://imgur.com/a/UmkcI Edit: And then if you're wondering why I didn't just switch to two one-day car rentals instead of one four-day rental to avoid paying for insurance, the toll device, etc. for the two days I wasn't driving, it's because then the price goes up significantly because it's a one way car rental - see[0].
- oculusthrift 10y ago
  sounds funny until their homophobia causes them to arrest you.

mos_basik 10y ago

Almost certainly offtopic, but I'm curious what happened in June 2014.

citruspi 10y ago
Honestly, nothing interesting :) That was the day I moved to California for my first internship. It was the first time I was flying by myself after turning 18 and I was getting ready to queue up for the security line and I just said fuck it, I'm done. Prior to that day, I'd mostly flown with my family, who put up with, but don't empathize with my dislike for law enforcement (not that you could call the TSA that). Even when I later told them that I'd started opt-ing out, they didn't really understand or agree with it. In addition, I've always thought that the scanners were more security theatre than actually useful and at more than $150,000 a pop, all that money could go to so many better uses. Since I was starting my first internship, I was also going to start paying taxes. Taxes which contribute to these systems. I can't opt-out of my taxes contributing to what I consider to be useless contraptions, but I can opt-out of using said contraptions (for now at least). It's also a simple way that I can communicate that I'm not complacent with the system. At this point, my "airport security playbook" is pretty much: 1. Disable Touch ID on all my devices and temporarily change the passwords 2. Confirm that FileVault is enabled for all laptops 3. Turn off all electronic devices. 4. Opt-out Unrelated, but on that flight to San Francisco, I decided to become a vegan. A lot of different stuff aligned that day. :)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

headShrinker 10y ago

As someone who is familiar with the standard patdown, this new procedure sounds gross.

citruspi 10y ago
Another way to think of it is that you're getting more bang for your buck ;) /s In addition to your taxes funding this system, each passenger pays a 9/11 fee[0] of $5.60 per one-way trip. Anyone who receives a pat-down is basically getting a little more intimate action from a handsome (wo)man in uniform. /s But yeah, I think it's unnecessary and stupid. Having said that, I am glad that I have the option to opt-out - I'd prefer to opt-out and get my genitalia rubbed than to have no other option but to go through the scanners. [0]: https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/security-fees
- nojvek 10y ago
  I once opted out. The only problem is it takes 10x longer to get out of the scanner. I had to wait for a guy to come. He then explained that he'll touch my groin area. Then he proceeded to basically soft rape me. It felt very uncomfortable. Took me total of 5 minutes. I got a feeling they want to make people so uncomfortable they don't opt-out. I had no idea about TSA tax. America is a really weird country. It's so war and military driven it baffles me.

2_listerine_pls 10y ago

> I've opted out every time I've flown in the US since June 2014. Is it optional?

citruspi 10y ago
Well, you can go through the scanner if you'd like (which is what most people do), but the TSA can require you to get a pat-down. You can also opt-out of the scanner (which is what I do) and get a pat-down, but the TSA is not required to allow you to opt-out.