Here Are Seven Things to Know about the New Airport Screening Process You’ll Face This Holiday Season

The TSA’s new policies seem to have everyone kinda freaked out . . . body scanners, pat-downs, possible full frontal nudity.  Here’s what you should REALLY expect when you travel this holiday season.

#1.)  If your airport has full-body scanners, you’ll probably be scanned. So far, 68 U.S. airports have full-body scanners.  They basically replace the metal detector you’re used to walking through.

–Which means:  If they’ve got scanners, you’ll probably be scanned.  (–You can see a list of the airports with scanners here.  It’s basically complete . . . and as you’ll see, it has most of the major airports in the country . . .)

http://consumerist.com/2010/09/updated-list-of-full-body-scanners-at-airports.html

#2.)  Can they see my private areas? Sort of.  They’ll get a fuzzy, gray-and-black look at the general outline of your body underneath your clothes.

–Your face will be blurred and the image is allegedly destroyed as soon as you’re done.  Some full body scans recently leaked, but those weren’t from the TSA . . . they say they don’t even have the ability to save the photos.

–Also, the image won’t be broadcast to the entire security line . . . TSA officials in a back, private room will be examining it.

#3.)  Can I refuse the screening? Yes, but if you do, you’ll get a mandatory pat-down from a TSA officer of your gender.  And it’s a LEGIT pat-down . . . tops and sides of breasts, inner thighs, buttocks . . . those are all in play now.

#4.)  Why do they have to touch me so intimately? This is all a reaction to the guy who tried to fly with a bomb in his underwear last Christmas.

#5.)  How long do the pat-downs take? They take about two minutes.  The body scanner takes about 30 seconds.  But yes, prepare for longer lines while everyone gets used to the new procedures.

#6.)  Do the scanners pose a radiation threat? No.  You get somewhere between one-fiftieth and one-hundredth the radiation you’d get from a standard chest X-ray.

–A professor at Arizona State University says your odds of getting cancer from the scan are about one in 30 million . . . which, fittingly enough, are about the same odds that the plane you’re on will get blown up by a terrorist.

#7.)  If it’s your lady time . . . uh . . . TSA will know. Here we go.  The full body scans pick up everything under your clothes . . . including the various feminine products –The TSA says their screeners are expected to use discretion . .

(Time / Raw Story / MSNBC)