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So What's the Deal with National 'Opt-Out Day' on November 24?

November 17, 2010 at 10:34 AM | by | Comments (2)

Millions of travelers will head home a week from today in search of grandma’s family recipes in advance of Thanksgiving. The busiest travel day of the year—November 23—will likely be a nightmare for those hitting the rails and roads, but things up in the air are probably going to be the most aggravating. Adding to the delays and misery is National Opt-Out Day, which encourages travelers to skip that peek-a-boo scanner thing in favor of the upgraded pat down.

We aren’t totally thrilled with the government taking a peek at our naughty bits, but we’re also not huge fans of an increase in the lines at airport security. We kind of want to participate in this anti-scanner movement, but we also just want to get home for the holidays and we suspect that many travelers are similarly torn. We’ll try our best to stay true to the cause, but if they’re announcing final boarding at our gate, we might just have to give Uncle Sam a preview of our turkey and giblets whether he likes it or not.

So the basic premise of next Wednesday is to just politely refuse the scanner and request the 'enhanced pat-down'. Check out the TSA's blog post on the pat-down procedures before you choose to participate. No need to cause a scene or flip out, as the theory is for fliers to protest what they feel is just security gone to extremes. Be sure to request your free massage in front of everyone else, as organizers of the Opt-Out Day want everything to be done in front of the traveling public.

We like the idea, but we just kind of think another day might have been a little better idea. Despite the inconvenience for everyone involved, maybe travelers will actually prove a point. If not, at least we’ll keep talking about it—or complaining about it—until things change or we just suck it up and accept it. We like going places too much that are far away, so no matter what ridiculous rules are put into practice we’ll probably just suck it up.

Click here to find out if your airport has full-body scanners.

[Photo: silas216]

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Return to » So What's the Deal with National 'Opt-Out Day' on November 24?


Worst. Day. Ever.

If you're going to demonstrate that a new policy is clogging up airports - which is after all the point of all of this; that the program is unsustainable - you shouldn't do it on a day when the airports are already clogged up!! Not only does it screw travelers royally, but it's fair for folks to come back and say "so you clogged up the airports on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving - that hardly proves anything"
Omri on November 17, 2010 at 12:46 PM #Permalink

Ouch.

I'm loving every article you put out re: Body Scanners. I guffawed at reading "preview of our turkey and giblets," and have had similar reactions to other articles on this subject. Personally, the invasion of privacy is annoying and a little over-the-top considering what TSA can actually see. The "enhanced" pat-downs are even more worrisome, despite the fact that the TSA is trained to be "sensitive" and "tactful." Has anyone ever interacted with a sensitive and tactful TSA Agent?! I will not be participating in the Opt-Out day, rather, I've opted out of flying for the holidays altogether. The delays are going to be astronomical, especially considering the amount of infrequent fliers who already don't know how to go through security now being bombarded with full-body scans and government-issued molestation agents. With any luck, the airline unions will continue to raise a questionable voice to the new regulations and a better solution will come around.
murfslk230 on November 17, 2010 at 3:24 PM #Permalink

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