O'Hare travelers can't avoid new scanners

Travelers looking to avoid the new full-body scans as they fly away for Thanksgiving should also avoid O'Hare International Airport.

All security checkpoints at the nation's second busiest airport are now fitted with “advanced imaging technology” that provides Transportation Security Administration screeners a view of what lies underneath a traveler's clothes. Chicago's Midway Airport has none.

TSA spokesman Jim Fotenos, citing security reasons, wouldn't say how many travelers are selected to be sent through the body scanners at O'Hare each day versus those who are screened by traditional metal detectors. Security experts estimate a fifth of those flying will be selected for full body scans.

The scanners are the focus of a grass-roots boycott Wednesday, when people who object to the detailed images generated by the machines are urging others to “opt out.” But the alternative, a detailed pat-down, also raises privacy issues and takes longer threatening to bog down security lines on the busiest travel day of the year.

The message for O'Hare travelers: Get to the airport early.

Karen Pride, a spokeswoman for Chicago's Department of Aviation, said airport staffing was already increased for Wednesday because of the expected boom in holiday travel. She is unaware of any staffing increases related to the planned protest, which is receiving attention in media circles and online. Fotenos said TSA “always optimizes its staffing levels during the holidays.”

Critics have assailed both the full-body scans and newer stringent pat-down procedures, saying they are invasive and violate civil liberties. But a trip through the scanner takes about four seconds for the scan and another 20 seconds for TSA workers to examine the image, Fotenos said less time than it takes for screeners to examine bags that go through X-ray machines.

Fotenos said the alternative pat-down takes two to four minutes. TSA officials said the process involves a same-sex screener who will run a hand up the inside of a passenger's leg, along the cheeks of the buttocks and in direct contact with the clothed groin area.

Passengers can't opt out of both once they've been chosen for enhanced searches, according to TSA rules. Trying to evade the measures could result in an $11,000 fine.

Airlines are warning travelers to arrive at the airport two hours before domestic flights and 2½ hours early for international flights, but those guidelines were in place before the threat of protests.

The new procedures received increased scrutiny recently following complaints from travelers and after online videos of pat-downs deemed “aggressive” by critics began surfacing. TSA head John Pistole has been on a media blitz in the past few days trying to assuage the concerns of the flying public over the new techniques.

“Clearly it's invasive; it's not comfortable,” Pistole said during an interview on CNN. “If we are to detect terrorists, who have again proven innovative and creative in their design and implementation of bombs that are going to blow up airplanes and kill people, then we have to do something that prevents that.”

The new procedures have caught the ire of some congressional leaders as well, who have promised to hold hearings on the matter when the new session begins early next year.

Pilots have already been freed of having to undergo the new screening process after a deal was struck that requires them to show two forms of identification one issued by their company and one issued by the government that are checked against a secure database. Now airlines are attempting the same protocol for flight attendants.

Fotenos said Midway is in line to receive the new scanners, though “no deployment date” has been set.

Ÿ The Associated Press contributed to this report.Scanners: Protest could add to delays

Security takes your stuff? No, mail it

The Chicago Department of Aviation says it has brought back an automated mail system at O'Hare to provide travelers with an option to retain personal items not allowed through security checkpoints. The Mail Safe Express system allows passengers to mail home liquids and other items via the United States Postal Service. Each Mail Safe Express kiosk provides a one-stop packaging, payment and vaulted drop-off station that allows passengers to mail items to domestic or international addresses. Mail Safe Express operated at both O'Hare and Midway Airport during a trial basis from December 2006 to December 2007.

Associated Press