Similar story, and I’m going to go ahead and assume that the reason you wouldn’t be able to board was due to the flight departing very soon.
I _always_ opt out of backscatter machines. I’m British so I’ve flown Heathrow and Gatwick and Luton (etc), normally the process is painless. I wait a fair while longer than others, sitting/standing publicly as people pass me by and it feels awkward, but not enough to stop me.
I have never been denied boarding for my choice. But I make sure I have time to be harassed. Just in case.
The pat down is very humane, they tell you what they will do and they use the back of their hands a fair bit.
Then they brush the glove and put the cloth they brushed with in a scanner, then you’re free to go.
However, I’ve been to a couple of airports that have... aggressive.. security. Heathrow was one, they made me feel so small, as if I was causing trouble, implying I was hiding something.
Eventually I told them that I worked on the backscatter x-rays, and claimed that while they were safe for normal use, they were not safe for use with the added radiation of flying and that the world would be defaming it in a decade as, I said it was this generations asbestos.
They stopped pestering me then, since that incident it’s been my go-to response.
It’s not true as far as I know, but, it /is/ an added dose of radiation right before you get some more radiation, so it’s not exactly a complete fabrication.
Now they’re using millimetre wave scanners which are less radioactive, but have other considerations like the activation of moles on skin, or their relative ineffectiveness of finding handguns in underwear (as per TSA reporting) or 54% false positive rate (as per Germany’s report)
I ‘opt out’ always. Had a terminal security person tell me it’s just air (what in the actual funk!?). Fruitless attempts to explain that claim was entirely incorrect I just gave up. Got the pat down and move alongit’s a pain but flying is terrible in general. Finally I enjoy making the inconveniences along the way.
I _always_ opt out of backscatter machines. I’m British so I’ve flown Heathrow and Gatwick and Luton (etc), normally the process is painless. I wait a fair while longer than others, sitting/standing publicly as people pass me by and it feels awkward, but not enough to stop me.
I have never been denied boarding for my choice. But I make sure I have time to be harassed. Just in case.
The pat down is very humane, they tell you what they will do and they use the back of their hands a fair bit.
Then they brush the glove and put the cloth they brushed with in a scanner, then you’re free to go.
However, I’ve been to a couple of airports that have... aggressive.. security. Heathrow was one, they made me feel so small, as if I was causing trouble, implying I was hiding something.
Eventually I told them that I worked on the backscatter x-rays, and claimed that while they were safe for normal use, they were not safe for use with the added radiation of flying and that the world would be defaming it in a decade as, I said it was this generations asbestos.
They stopped pestering me then, since that incident it’s been my go-to response.
It’s not true as far as I know, but, it /is/ an added dose of radiation right before you get some more radiation, so it’s not exactly a complete fabrication.
Now they’re using millimetre wave scanners which are less radioactive, but have other considerations like the activation of moles on skin, or their relative ineffectiveness of finding handguns in underwear (as per TSA reporting) or 54% false positive rate (as per Germany’s report)