5 ms·

TSA will punish you for opting out of anything. If you're lucky, the least they will do is hold you up a long time so you have a good chance of missing your fli

by _yb2s 2y ago

TSA will punish you for opting out of anything. If you're lucky, the least they will do is hold you up a long time so you have a good chance of missing your flight. I've also had them sexually harass me, and confiscate (e.g. steal) legal items in retaliation for opting out of things I had the legal right to opt out of. They know people are in a hurry and won't do anything about being treated unethically or illegally, because calling them out would require missing your flight. When I opted out of the scanner once, I had to wait about 20 minutes, and then the TSA agent comes over to do a "pat down" instead, but is going inappropriately slow and squeezing my body, and saying things like "I'd bet you opted out because you like this." I regret not immediately calling them out and filing charges.

casenmgreen 2y ago
I always opt-out, of course. The most recent time, which was years ago now, when I was leaving the country (I'm not a US citizen, and had finished working on a H1-B). In the EU, there's delay - they have to get someone, you go to a room, pat-down. Unremarkable. In the US, delay, they get someone - but the "pat-down" was so forceful I had trouble keeping my balance. It seemed to me to be deliberately excessive. Fortunately, I do not live in, and do not need to travel to, the USA.
1659447091 2y ago
I would be curious to know which airport(s) you receive this treatment from? I fly regularly between a handful of major US hubs. There is only one airport that I would be vocal about their treatment of passengers to a group of local TSA that I played co-ed sports with. The most senior one's response was that it wasn't surprising as that location (entire airport management) has had a toxic culture from the top down and they were trying to clean it up but it's still a bureaucracy. Anywhere else and I have an agent that would be having an off or bad day, but nothing like what you are describing at any of the others. When I pull the pre-check random scanner check, I opt out and will go straight into small talk with the agent, they don't like it any more than you do, (maybe one or two might) but the majority they want it over with as quickly as you do. My personal tactic is to go into my story of being sexually molested at a checkpoint at an airport in Spain. It was very unexpected and extremely uncomfortable, including the smile after as though waiting for me to drop my number. I can joke about it now, and it gives TSA agents an opening to assure me that is not their intent without being weird about it. They're also annoyed that people who do things like that give them all a bad rep
- _yb2s 2y ago
  I fly a lot and cannot remember where these events occurred. It was a small airport in California- not in the Bay Area or LA.
colanderman 2y ago
I'm sorry you experienced this. Don't be hard on yourself for not calling them out, you shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of doing so.
davisr 2y ago
I always opt out of the scanner (even have a special shirt [1]), and without fail they always stand me by the intake (radio-leaky-end) of the baggage x-ray machine for 5+ minutes. [1]: https://www.davisr.me/projects/art/tsashirt.jpg https://www.davisr.me/projects/art/tsashirt.jpg
- _yb2s 2y ago
  [flagged]
- jazzyjackson 2y ago
  lol I had a phase where I would always wear this "cease your investigators" shirt, never had any comments but yea stood by the machine for 5 minutes or so, never considered the machine would be radiating outward as well as inward, but yeah, mostly did it as a small protest, thought it worth demonstrating you don't have to comply. https://neongrizzly.com/products/cease-your-investigations-illuminati-t-shirt?_pos=2&_sid=c62c45e6b&_ss=r&variant=12600528044086 https://neongrizzly.com/products/cease-your-investigations-i...
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Just saw this one- love the guy's eye contact also. He knows how to stand up to fascist jerks. https://preview.redd.it/travel-safe-for-thanksgiving-v0-i3jafhwjrw2e1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=e80d4830e6903aeb42f4f27e3e61d01f58d130e2 https://preview.redd.it/travel-safe-for-thanksgiving-v0-i3ja...
  - LtWorf 2y ago
    LOL I need to buy that shirt. I'm disabled and kinda dark so they're always "randomly" going for me.
  - antipaul 2y ago
    How do you know the dude in blue is a fascist, and a jerk?
    - _yb2s 2y ago
financetechbro 2y ago
Opting out of the face scanner is a totally different experience than opting out of the body scanner lol
akira2501 2y ago
The last I was in San Francisco International the TSA staff came barreling out of their door and the first agent out yelled into the terminal, "MAN! I really hope someone opts out today! I can't wait to give that guy a serious patdown." They're trained to operate in an unethical way.
- monksy 2y ago
  They're all threats until I walk up to them and actively volunteer. Then it's all "i swear i'm not gay i'm required to touch you near your groin." The amount of agents who act like that and then start to get shy when you smile and go through with a patdown is pretty comical.
  - LtWorf 2y ago
    I once had the unusual luck of being patted down by a young attractive trainee woman in sweden. They also made her to re-do it because she hadn't done it properly apparently (she had actually touched waaaaaay more than usual).
- kirubakaran 2y ago
  SFO doesn't use TSA https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/safety-security https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/safety-secur...
  - khuey 2y ago
    To a person not familiar with the minutiae of government structure "TSA" is a job position as much as an organization, and CAS does have the former.
  - akira2501 2y ago
    Other than a nearly identical uniform that says CAS in place of TSA there is no apparent difference. Which is why I probably didn't even realize. In any case my return leg was delayed so I rented a car to drive back and have never returned to commercial flights since.
stavros 2y ago
> "I'd bet you opted out because you like this." "You're damn right I like it, usually I have to pay for it."
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
kurtoid 2y ago
My 2c: I use precheck, and fly regularly between RDU and PBI. Opting out of the 3d face camera has always been easy, and I never had pushback from them. PBI has well placed opt-out signs, but I hadn't see them at RDU. I expect that one day it won't be optional, but I'll avoid it while I can

by _yb2s 2y ago

casenmgreen 2y ago

I always opt-out, of course. The most recent time, which was years ago now, when I was leaving the country (I'm not a US citizen, and had finished working on a H1-B). In the EU, there's delay - they have to get someone, you go to a room, pat-down. Unremarkable. In the US, delay, they get someone - but the "pat-down" was so forceful I had trouble keeping my balance. It seemed to me to be deliberately excessive. Fortunately, I do not live in, and do not need to travel to, the USA.

1659447091 2y ago

I would be curious to know which airport(s) you receive this treatment from? I fly regularly between a handful of major US hubs. There is only one airport that I would be vocal about their treatment of passengers to a group of local TSA that I played co-ed sports with. The most senior one's response was that it wasn't surprising as that location (entire airport management) has had a toxic culture from the top down and they were trying to clean it up but it's still a bureaucracy. Anywhere else and I have an agent that would be having an off or bad day, but nothing like what you are describing at any of the others. When I pull the pre-check random scanner check, I opt out and will go straight into small talk with the agent, they don't like it any more than you do, (maybe one or two might) but the majority they want it over with as quickly as you do. My personal tactic is to go into my story of being sexually molested at a checkpoint at an airport in Spain. It was very unexpected and extremely uncomfortable, including the smile after as though waiting for me to drop my number. I can joke about it now, and it gives TSA agents an opening to assure me that is not their intent without being weird about it. They're also annoyed that people who do things like that give them all a bad rep

_yb2s 2y ago
I fly a lot and cannot remember where these events occurred. It was a small airport in California- not in the Bay Area or LA.

colanderman 2y ago

I'm sorry you experienced this. Don't be hard on yourself for not calling them out, you shouldn't have to shoulder the burden of doing so.

davisr 2y ago

I always opt out of the scanner (even have a special shirt [1]), and without fail they always stand me by the intake (radio-leaky-end) of the baggage x-ray machine for 5+ minutes. [1]: https://www.davisr.me/projects/art/tsashirt.jpg https://www.davisr.me/projects/art/tsashirt.jpg

_yb2s 2y ago
[flagged]
jazzyjackson 2y ago
lol I had a phase where I would always wear this "cease your investigators" shirt, never had any comments but yea stood by the machine for 5 minutes or so, never considered the machine would be radiating outward as well as inward, but yeah, mostly did it as a small protest, thought it worth demonstrating you don't have to comply. https://neongrizzly.com/products/cease-your-investigations-illuminati-t-shirt?_pos=2&_sid=c62c45e6b&_ss=r&variant=12600528044086 https://neongrizzly.com/products/cease-your-investigations-i...
_yb2s 2y ago
Just saw this one- love the guy's eye contact also. He knows how to stand up to fascist jerks. https://preview.redd.it/travel-safe-for-thanksgiving-v0-i3jafhwjrw2e1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=e80d4830e6903aeb42f4f27e3e61d01f58d130e2 https://preview.redd.it/travel-safe-for-thanksgiving-v0-i3ja...
- LtWorf 2y ago
  LOL I need to buy that shirt. I'm disabled and kinda dark so they're always "randomly" going for me.
- antipaul 2y ago
  How do you know the dude in blue is a fascist, and a jerk?
  - _yb2s 2y ago

financetechbro 2y ago

Opting out of the face scanner is a totally different experience than opting out of the body scanner lol

akira2501 2y ago

The last I was in San Francisco International the TSA staff came barreling out of their door and the first agent out yelled into the terminal, "MAN! I really hope someone opts out today! I can't wait to give that guy a serious patdown." They're trained to operate in an unethical way.

monksy 2y ago
They're all threats until I walk up to them and actively volunteer. Then it's all "i swear i'm not gay i'm required to touch you near your groin." The amount of agents who act like that and then start to get shy when you smile and go through with a patdown is pretty comical.
- LtWorf 2y ago
  I once had the unusual luck of being patted down by a young attractive trainee woman in sweden. They also made her to re-do it because she hadn't done it properly apparently (she had actually touched waaaaaay more than usual).
kirubakaran 2y ago
SFO doesn't use TSA https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/safety-security https://www.flysfo.com/about/airport-operations/safety-secur...
- khuey 2y ago
  To a person not familiar with the minutiae of government structure "TSA" is a job position as much as an organization, and CAS does have the former.
- akira2501 2y ago
  Other than a nearly identical uniform that says CAS in place of TSA there is no apparent difference. Which is why I probably didn't even realize. In any case my return leg was delayed so I rented a car to drive back and have never returned to commercial flights since.

stavros 2y ago

> "I'd bet you opted out because you like this." "You're damn right I like it, usually I have to pay for it."

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

kurtoid 2y ago

My 2c: I use precheck, and fly regularly between RDU and PBI. Opting out of the 3d face camera has always been easy, and I never had pushback from them. PBI has well placed opt-out signs, but I hadn't see them at RDU. I expect that one day it won't be optional, but I'll avoid it while I can