body scanners in European airports

My plans were to visit Europe again in October, but it has come to my
attention that the use of those body scanners has become common since
the attempted bombing of that flight to Detroit last Christmas 2009.
My last flight was prior to that.

So I called the Athens airport and spoke to their security people who
said that they had the scanners and their use was required, and
furthermore that this was to be found in the other airports in Europe.

This sounds incredible but it is plausible. Can anyone confirm this at
your local big airport? My googling only turned up EU regular that
"permitted" the scanners and a lot of talk of health issues. But that
is all.

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 8/8/2011 5:56 PM, Dan Stephenson wrote:
My plans were to visit Europe again in October, but it has come to my
attention that the use of those body scanners has become common since
the attempted bombing of that flight to Detroit last Christmas 2009. My
last flight was prior to that.

So I called the Athens airport and spoke to their security people who
said that they had the scanners and their use was required, and
furthermore that this was to be found in the other airports in Europe.

This sounds incredible but it is plausible. Can anyone confirm this at
your local big airport? My googling only turned up EU regular that
"permitted" the scanners and a lot of talk of health issues. But that is
all.

I know they have those scanners at Heathrow, but I haven't yet been
subjected to them. My last Heathrow trip was just a few days ago.

On 2011-08-08 17:11:11 -0500, S Viemeister said:

On 8/8/2011 5:56 PM, Dan Stephenson wrote:
My plans were to visit Europe again in October, but it has come to my
attention that the use of those body scanners has become common since
the attempted bombing of that flight to Detroit last Christmas 2009. My
last flight was prior to that.

So I called the Athens airport and spoke to their security people who
said that they had the scanners and their use was required, and
furthermore that this was to be found in the other airports in Europe.

This sounds incredible but it is plausible. Can anyone confirm this at
your local big airport? My googling only turned up EU regular that
"permitted" the scanners and a lot of talk of health issues. But that is
all.

I know they have those scanners at Heathrow, but I haven't yet been
subjected to them. My last Heathrow trip was just a few days ago.

Right. Could you tell how they selected who should get scanned? I've
read that if you refuse the scan, there is no pat-down option.

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On 8/8/2011 9:05 PM, Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-08-08 17:11:11 -0500, S Viemeister said:

On 8/8/2011 5:56 PM, Dan Stephenson wrote:
My plans were to visit Europe again in October, but it has come to my
attention that the use of those body scanners has become common since
the attempted bombing of that flight to Detroit last Christmas 2009. My
last flight was prior to that.

So I called the Athens airport and spoke to their security people who
said that they had the scanners and their use was required, and
furthermore that this was to be found in the other airports in Europe.

This sounds incredible but it is plausible. Can anyone confirm this at
your local big airport? My googling only turned up EU regular that
"permitted" the scanners and a lot of talk of health issues. But that is
all.

I know they have those scanners at Heathrow, but I haven't yet been
subjected to them. My last Heathrow trip was just a few days ago.

Right. Could you tell how they selected who should get scanned? I've
read that if you refuse the scan, there is no pat-down option.

Actually, I didn't notice anyone being selected for those scans.
I was patted down, but not too unpleasantly, because the metal detector
beeped when I went through. It hadn't beeped earlier in the day at
Edinburgh - either the Heathrow sensors are extremely sensitive (I was
wearing rimless glasses with very thin metal temples, a small watch,
small silver earrings and a wedding band - no other metal), or they
decided to give the young woman some practice with pat-downs on someone
who wasn't likely to be any problem.

On Mon, 8 Aug 2011 16:56:10 -0500, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

My plans were to visit Europe again in October, but it has come to my
attention that the use of those body scanners has become common since
the attempted bombing of that flight to Detroit last Christmas 2009.
My last flight was prior to that.

So I called the Athens airport and spoke to their security people who
said that they had the scanners and their use was required, and
furthermore that this was to be found in the other airports in Europe.

This sounds incredible but it is plausible. Can anyone confirm this at
your local big airport? My googling only turned up EU regular that
"permitted" the scanners and a lot of talk of health issues. But that
is all.


I can't speak about all of Europe, but I flew out of Athens a couple
of months ago. I didn't go through a body scanner.

But if I had had to, I wouldn't have worried a whole lot about it.

--
Ken Blake

On 2011-08-08 19:23:58 -0500, Ken Blake said:

I can't speak about all of Europe, but I flew out of Athens a couple
of months ago. I didn't go through a body scanner.

I should phone back. Perhaps they thought I mean the metal detector.

Did you see body scanners there, and if so, could you tell how they
selected people to use them?

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

On Mon, 8 Aug 2011 20:06:49 -0500, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

On 2011-08-08 19:23:58 -0500, Ken Blake said:

I can't speak about all of Europe, but I flew out of Athens a couple
of months ago. I didn't go through a body scanner.

I should phone back. Perhaps they thought I mean the metal detector.

Did you see body scanners there, and if so, could you tell how they
selected people to use them?


I don't remember seeing any body scanners, but that doesn't mean they
weren't there.

--
Ken Blake

On 2011-08-09 09:40:35 -0500, Ken Blake said:

On Mon, 8 Aug 2011 20:06:49 -0500, Dan Stephenson
wrote:

On 2011-08-08 19:23:58 -0500, Ken Blake said:

I can't speak about all of Europe, but I flew out of Athens a couple
of months ago. I didn't go through a body scanner.

I should phone back. Perhaps they thought I mean the metal detector.

Did you see body scanners there, and if so, could you tell how they
selected people to use them?


I don't remember seeing any body scanners, but that doesn't mean they
weren't there.

Thanks, I definitely want to call back. I am totally in love with
ancient history and love visiting the ancient ruiins. What a connect
with history!

--
Dan Stephenson
http://web.mac.com/stepheda
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)

Dan Stephenson wrote:
On 2011-08-08 19:23:58 -0500, Ken Blake said:

I can't speak about all of Europe, but I flew out of Athens a couple
of months ago. I didn't go through a body scanner.

I should phone back. Perhaps they thought I mean the metal detector.

Did you see body scanners there, and if so, could you tell how they
selected people to use them?

..?? I really can't see why anyone would prefer an intrusive body pat-down
to an innocuous body scanner on an occasional trip.

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

Erilar wrote:

.?? I really can't see why anyone would prefer an intrusive body pat-down
to an innocuous body scanner on an occasional trip.

A body pat-down is usually only done if the metal scanners indicate you
have anything metallic on you.

Some body scanners, however, produce an image that resembles you being
naked, or at least might reveal other things quite personal (elderly
person having to wear diapers, somebody with an ostomy?).
If body scanners are introduced, everbody will have to go through them.

So the choice is rather no pat-down vs. being seen naked. It's ok if you
don't mind being naked, but quite a few do.