Annual family tradition of thirty years ended because of TSA policies

From MSNBC:

Fed-up fliers protest airport security measures

For 30 years, Marcia Miller has flown across the country to Toledo, Ohio, to join four generations of her family for Thanksgiving dinner. But scared off by newly ramped-up airport security measures — including full-body scans and, in some cases, “enhanced” pat downs by TSA workers — Miller has decided instead to dine alone in L.A.

She is opting out.

“Am I really supposed to let a total stranger rub my private parts because I bought an airplane ticket?” said Miller, who runs the jewelry and fashion website, ILoveAccessories.com. “Would you allow your daughter to be patted down by a stranger and not feel like punching the person that did it? It leaves scars... just like a rape leaves scars.”

Miller has some company in both her personal protest and her fear of the Transportation Security Administration’s new methods.

A grassroots group of fliers who say they are fed up with airport “feel ups” and who call TSA X-ray machines “porno scanners” are cooking up a Thanksgiving Eve revolt that, they vow, will turn the nation’s heaviest travel day into “holy hell.”

Fueled by two new websites — OptOutDay.com and WeWontFly.com — as well as by several awkward, security-point frisking videos that recently went viral, movement members are vowing to unleash a surreal spate of Nov. 24 disruptions just as millions of Americans fly off for annual family feasts. Atop the protesters’ tactical list: urging passengers to “opt out” of full-body scans, forcing TSA employees to instead administer “enhanced,” hand-sliding, pat downs that can include feeling a person’s inner thighs and buttocks.

One X-ray glimpse typically takes TSA employees about 30 seconds, but the more-intimate, physical searches — implemented by the federal government three weeks ago — can last several minutes per passenger. If a large enough portion of travelers choose to “opt out” of the scans, security lines could potentially coil to record lengths at multiple airports — and travelers may miss their flights.

...

“TSA is not going have the manpower to stick their hands in the pants of every man coming through there,” said James Babb, a 42-year-old advertising consultant from the Philadelphia area who co-founded WeWontFly.com. “We are really encouraging people to not just opt out of the radiation scan but also opt out of the groping by not flying at all.”

Even lawmakers are considering whether it is time to "opt out."

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., who helped write the bill creating the TSA, now says it might be time to eliminate the government agency, NBC's WESH-TV reports.

Mica, who will chair the House Transportation Committee in the new year, has sent letters to 150 airports suggesting that they dump TSA screeners and hire private security. Florida's Orlando Sanford Airport, which handles 2 million passengers a year, already plans to replace "testy" TSA screeners with private contractors.

The federal law that created the TSA gives airports the right to use private screeners, as long as they follow the Department of Homeland Security's rules and guidelines.

"As TSA has grown larger, more impersonal, and administratively top-heavy, I believe it is important that airports across the country consider utilizing the opt-out provision provided by law," Mica wrote in the letter.