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A Peek At the National Opt-Out Day Numbers
Yesterday was a big travel day for Americans, and the organizers of National Opt-Out Day hoped to use it to highlight widespread, though not universal, dissatisfaction with stepped-up screening measures in US airports, by encouraging people selected for body screening to insist instead on the pat-down alternative. Reader Willtor writes with a story in the New York Times on the effect of the protest: "'39 people had opted out of the body scans in Atlanta by 5 p.m. In Los Angeles, 113 had. One had opted out in Charlotte, N.C. Boston seemed to have something of a mini-spike, with 300.' This is a tiny fraction of passengers, of course. But when I flew out of Boston this afternoon, they had opened a line that led to a traditional metal detector. When I flew out in June all lines went to the nudie scanners. Is it safe to be optimistic that we have been heard and policies have changed? I am not particularly concerned whether we get credit or whether it is reported that the protest fizzled. But it would be nice to know that some of the more invasive theatrics have become optional."
According to its organizers, meanwhile, the opt-out protest was a "rousing success." If you traveled yesterday by air, what was your impression?
I must be missing something about this... I mean, when I was in an airport overseas, and they started to go through my check luggage as part of standard security, my knee-jerk reaction at first was to be a bit freaked. But after 30 seconds of thought I realized that this was GOOD. They were HAND SEARCHING luggage! Plus scanning it. No bombs on that plane! So why do people care about scanners? Is it some kind of weird prudish thing? Or do the scanners do some harm? I'm happy to fly nude. I'll know the chance of someone having a weapon is pretty small!
Number and statistics is a sad thing,
You are no longer flying, and thus you think you are voting with your wallet.
Here is the problem: There are millions more people, 1 lost ticket won't affect profit, and the people who should have dropped it in protest fly so regularely and are so addicted on the issue that they won't consider it.
By all means, vote with your wallet, but please be aware that it won't mean anytthing.