It was a very recent poll on the topic of this thread. I guess you would have to discount it seeing as you backed up your silly notion with "I witness" stories. Also, I would love to know how you guarantee than the majority in the CBS poll never fly? Once again, yes, you and 19% of the people in that poll are silly, imo. Maybe those 19% are frequent flyers like yourself?

If you are talking about John Mica, he wrote a letter urging some airports to consider using contractors. At the end of the day, they are going to have to screen you as well. From the article I read, he never said anything about removing the scanners or personal searches, so it could just be a contractor doing the same thing the TSA is doing now.

However, I am fine with the TSA people currently doing the screening being replaced by private contractors. As long as they can do a better job of it.

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Profeshenal spellar

Snuggies! Everyone must wear Snuggies on the plane.

Funny pics Viper...i'm sure they'd have us travel nude if they had their way. Perhaps a kilt commando style?

Personally, I had five or six years in a row receiving Super Elite status on AC, which is similar to United 1K; you have to accumulate 100,000 actual miles in each calendar year to requalify. Worst year, I got there by the first week of June. Usually it took until September. I didn't qualify this year, which I suppose is a good thing. So, I am (was) a frequent flyer.

I think airport security in the US is a joke. I go to great lengths not to go through US airports any more than I have to. That includes flying from Vancouver to Toronto to then enter the US to get to eastern destinations, as opposed to connecting in the US through Denver, or Chicago. I can get to South America without landing in the US at all if I go to Toronto. In addition to the longer flight times I endure, one perhaps has to realize just how bad the airport is in Toronto to appreciate the above choices.

When organizing conferences, with international attendees, it is always a bonus not to hold it in the US. We could have anywhere from 20 to 100 people at a meeting, and we go to lengths not to have those meetings in the US. It sucks for your hotel and tourism industry, because we certainly can't be the only ones.

I don't like the US full body cameras, as they use xrays. The Canadian full body cameras use millimeter wave, which apparently is less harmfull. I don't fully understand that, but it sounds good. I don't mind them taking a full body picture, if it isn't visible to anyone but the camera operator. I would have a problem if the monitor was out in the open.

I don't like full body pat downs, I consider them intrusive. I have picked a camera over them when going through the US recently. On that occasion, everybody had a choice of a patdown or the camera, due to some heightened security issue a few weeks ago.

We had a thread on this recently, how the west over-reacted to 9/11.

http://www.xoutpost.com/off-topic/po...aucracies.html

Unfortunately, that thread degenerated into a discussion of conspiracies, while it started off talking about the effects on personal freedoms in a post 9/11 world.

Meanwhile, the economy will continue to be choked by bureaucratic restrictions placed on business and holiday travellers in the pursuit of security.

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Which poll do you gather that an airline would use as an actual metric? A general CBS poll or a poll by actual frequent flyers:

FlyerTalk Forums - View Poll Results

By the way...flyertalk has actual TSA members who blog often.

More and more are backing out of holiday travel, perhaps 'cause they're silly...but don't take my "witness" account for it, use the google...or better yet, perhaps you'll see for yourself the next time you're at Hartsfield. Oh wait, you don't travel. Wonderful, i'm debating a traveling circus with someone who doesn't even travel. After all, according to a recent CBS poll 80% of America is all in for the scanners so all must be just peachy in wonderland!

A better job than the almighty TSA? A better job than the TSA seeing your wife and kids nude with machines that are potentially harmful? A better job than the TSA groping your junk? A better job than the TSA saying you lost your 4th amendment rights when you purchased a ticket?

Same millimeter/backscatter wave tech in the US...no difference i believe.

Once again...It's brought us full circle to another debate between qualified individuals connected to the Gov and academia/qualified independents. Guess which side believes they're safe vs unsafe?

Interesting overall perspective from a non-American, JCL. The fact you're willing to go out of your way to avoid US airports, as a frequent flyer or former frequent flyer, says volumes.

Are you flying less due to related reasons or to utilize other means, such as teleconferencing?

From what i've gathered so far, the economic impact is growing, as airline brass are now beginning to speak out...even using terms such as "molesting passengers".

You have got to be kidding me? You want me to look at a poll from a frequent flyer forum? That is not going to be biased or skewed at all. Let me dig up a poll from an infrequent flyer forum and see what they say.

I just flew out of Hartsfield airport last month. Got there less than an hour before takeoff and still waited at the gate. Plenty of time with no grope-job either. I would have gladly walked through a scanner though.

I have only read two articles about replacing TSA workers with contractors. One of which was in the Atlanta Journal Constitution this morning before I even saw this thread. Neither article stated anything about changing techniques used to scan/check passengers. They only talked about changing the employees, not procedures. I am all for finding a better way while making things safer and less intrusive. At the end of the day, I would prefer the safest method and it seems like body scanners of some sort are the most thorough method at this point and if someone refuses, they need to be extensively evaluated in another way. Besides thorough pat downs, what else is there?

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Profeshenal spellar

No dog in this fight.....

Actually people who fly because of business don't do it because
they choose to. For many flying is a necessity. So being dogmatic
about the obvious choices some are faced with doesn't address or
resolve what some view as an important problem.

I'm sure we all can dig up proof where the government say's this
is the best way to go only to find out later at the cost of someones
life that maybe the whole thing was a bad decision.

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