[fr] Furax: je découvre qu'au Royaume-Uni aussi, il faut passer par un de ces scanners-qui-vous-déshabillent. Et je découvre ça coincée comme un rat dans une cage en verre dont la seule sortie passe par un de ces scanners. Et contrairement aux USA, pas d'autre option: c'est ça ou je ne vole pas.
I am furious and outraged like I have rarely been.
You’ve heard about the full-body scanners they’ve been using in the US, right? And the “enhanced pat-downs” you go through if you opt out of the scanners? Thought that was bad?
I did.
You probably already know — if you know me a bit — that all the security theatre around flying angers me no end. Somebody tries to smuggle explosives on plane in their shoes? Let’s make everyone take off their shoes. Liquid explosives? Great, let’s put restrictions on liquids in carry-on luggage. Explosive underwear? Even better, let’s ask everyone to get naked. You know.
I won’t get into the details of why this is a complete pile of horseshit, others like Bruce Schneier have done it (and are still doing it) way better than me.
Now, if you’ve been flying to or from the US, chances are that you’ve wondered what you thought about them. Do they invade your privacy? your intimacy? are the “enhanced” pat-downs you can choose instead something you’re willing to subject yourself to? are they as safe as we’re told?
And, like us all when we travel and have to jump through hoops, you’ve probably reached some kind of agreement with yourself about the price you were willing to pay (in terms of hassle or loss of freedom or invasion of privacy or possible unproven health risks) to benefit from the comforts of air travel.
Or, maybe, if you don’t have any intention of flying to the US in the near future, you’ve put off that particular decision until you really have to make it.
I know I did.
Actually, I have taken the US off my list of “places I’m going to fly to” — unless I have a very good reason to change my mind.
Yes, because of the bloody scanners.
I’d actually pretty much made up my mind that before going through the “enhanced security theatre”, I would rather get to the US by road, flying first to Canada. Or something like that. But having no immediate plans to go to the US, I didn’t give it that much thought.
Now, back to why I’m writing this in Manchester airport departure lounge, having used up a pack of hankies because I feel so outraged that I don’t know what to do with myself and can’t stop crying. (Writing is helping, though, so now I just look like a mess but I’m not dripping a puddle on the floor anymore.)
I’m on my way back home, having visited my grandparents as I regularly do. I know the security theatre drill: liquids separate, take out the laptop, make sure I don’t pack too many cables, finish my water before going through security, remove extra and potentially beeping clothing before going through the metal detectors, and prepare to be quickly frisked because the darn things are so sensitive that anything can set them off. (Except in Geneva airport, where I can safely go through with clothing that will beep anywhere else.)
Well, not this time.
This time I went through the detector, which beeped, and I ended up trapped like a rat in a glass room — only way out through a full-body scanner.
I wasn’t prepared for this.
I didn’t even know they were used outside the US, or for travelers going to tame places like Switzerland from the UK.
I had no clue I should also have been thinking about whether I wanted to continue going to the UK by air (actually: coming back from the UK), or if I preferred to switch to the Eurostar.
I called out to the guy who was making the people before me go through, expressed my surprise at finding the scanner there, and asked what the other option was. He told me there was no other option, that once I had been selected for search, it was that — or don’t fly.
I exclaimed that I hadn’t had time to think about this, and he told me to “take my time” — but that was before I’d realized they were not giving me any other options.
He quickly called his superior who stepped into the box with me and started telling me it was safe, necessary, would be quickly over, etc. I tried explaining why I didn’t want to go through but we were clearly in a “dialogue de sourds”, and I started getting pretty upset (understand: crying from anger — I tend to do that, it’s really annoying).
I don’t know how long I stayed stuck there (at least 10 minutes I’d say), but it was pretty clear that I had no other option but to go through — unless I wanted to give up on my flight (yeah, sure).
I gave in, told the guy I was furious, refused his offer to give me documentation, picked up my stuff (my shiny new MacBook Air had been lying in an open tray in front of everybody during all that time) and sat down to continue having my meltdown on my own.
So, what went so wrong here?
Clearly, the fact that I discovered the existence of full-body scanners in Manchester Airport while I was trapped like a rat in a glass cage and pretty much forced to go through one.
That put me in the unenviable situation of having only a few minutes to make a difficult “ethical” decision that I’d been putting off because I wasn’t expecting to have to face this kind of situation: do I cave in to security theatre and fly, or do I refuse, and pay the price by not being able to board my flight?
I hadn’t even decided, with the US scenario, if I preferred to go through the scanner or submit to an invasive pat-down.
Also, although the two security staff I interacted with were very kind and polite, it would probably have helped if the guy in the box had actually been able to hear what I had to say and sympathize (maybe that’s too strong a word).
Instead, he insisted on telling me I was wrong, that this was necessary, that it was for my safety, that it wasn’t dangerous and would only take a few seconds, that he could give me all sorts of documentation to explain this to me.
For somebody who has read a lot on the topic of airport security (even if I haven’t written that much about it, except for rants like this one when things get too frustrating), it really didn’t help to have him talk to me as if I was just a scared uninformed passenger. I mean, he even told me that they hadn’t had any problems coming out of Manchester (regarding security), and so that they must be doing something right. I hope all of my readers can spot the flawed logic there. It doesn’t mean anything.
Wishful thinking probably, but I think that faced with somebody who would have said “I agree, all this security is probably overkill, I’m unfortunately as stuck with regulations here as you are, and I’m really sorry you didn’t know about this beforehand” — it would have helped more than pressuring me by saying that if I wanted to fly I had to go through and that I was making a fuss for nothing.
Time to buy some of that scanner-proof underwear, methinks.
UK goes on my black list now, US won’t be lonely there anymore…
Just as supposedly every passenger is at some risk of terrorist attack, if every passenger were also subject to a backscatter screening, then the actual risk of deaths by cancer means the machines are “deadlier than the terrorists.” (-Bruce Schneier)
Hitler truly would be very proud of America and the UK today.
Join the discussion on Flyertalk.com
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/checkpoints-borders-policy-debate-687/
So, today was my lucky day in Manchester Airport, it seems. After the body scanner, the Easyjet ground crew decided to enforce “one bag only” on precisely the trip where I was so proud of managing to fit three new pairs of boots into my already-full-for-incoming-trip carry-on.
I was made to “consolidate” my Timbuk2 handbag (computer-sized) into my carry-on. Well, I complied — faced with the threat of a £40 fee, I thought I’d at least give it a try, even though I thought it was hopeless.
I can tell you, I am indeed the queen of packing! I kept my book and the computer in my hand, stuffed a few things in my coat pockets, added a layer or two of fleece, and there we go.
I arrived on the plane just as they were inviting passengers who had trouble putting their carry-ons in the overhead lockers to give them to the cabin crew to be placed in the hold, free of charge. Needless to say I was personally invited to put mine in the hold, and I readily accepted, after pulling out my handbag and a few essentials I needed for the trip.
Ironic, isn’t it. Reminds me of the time I had to merge my hand luggage into one bag only for just about 20 meters. Same circus here, but less tears, thankfully.
In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t get stopped at customs upon arriving in Geneva, and my luggage wasn’t lost! Let’s look at the bright side of things!
Godwin point to Wimpie, after only two comments! Congrats!
On a more serious note, will check out the forum.
21 reasons scientists oppose body scanners
http://warondriving.com/post/9114691887/tsa-bodyscanners
If EasyJet didn’t charge you for putting your bag in the hold you got a result : )
Definitely — I almost spammed your comment, by the way. Choice Rhythms sounds like a brand name rather than a nickname or a real name.
Hah. They’re scrapping the scanners.
They didn’t work, but we knew it was all security theatre, right? http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/tsa-screener-confession-102912.html#.Uuv2-3ddXw0