Six Things to Know Before Your TSA Pat-Down

Though the uproar makes it sound as if every passenger will be subjected to the more invasive pat-downs, that’s not the case. Passengers get pat-downs only when they opt out of the scans or get the dreaded “blurry groin” or present other issues that keep them from getting screened in the scanner machine—TSA head John Pistole said it’s a “very small percentage.” And only a percentage of passengers are being asked to go through the scanners rather than the traditional metal detector. There are 382 primary airports (airports which service over 10,000 people a year), and only 68 have advanced imaging technology—about 700 scanners total, or roughly 10 per airport (some have more, some have less). Consider that anywhere from 1.2 million to 2.5 million passengers will fly each day of this holiday weekend and your odds of having to decide if whether or not to opt out seem much better. Of course, for many people, any chance at all is unacceptable.