Airport Security's New Measures

When I heard the words full body scanner, I immediately cringed. Even worse are the words full body pat down.

Unfortunately for many travelers these words are becoming a reality. At more and more major airports full body scanners are being installed. With these new scanners come a slew of problems. Passengers feel violated by the scanners, which expose the traveler. Even still a full body pat down might occur which now includes the search of private areas.

Needless to say...travelers are not all smiles.

A CNN employee Rosemary Fitzpatrick described her experience and said she almost cried. The embarrassment from the pat down brought her to tears and said she "felt helpless, felt violated and felt humiliated".

TSA is saying that the intensive pat downs are necessary to resolve any issues preliminary security might find. However, this might be too much.

Fitzpatrick's strip down is happening everywhere and people are not thrilled. The comment section on Fitzpatrick's story was filled. Readers lent their two cents and the issue has people split. Many readers agree with Fitzpatrick and think that the strip searches are incredibly debasing and for the most part unnecessary. Many comments said that the pat downs were a show put on by the TSA to make passengers feel safer. Other users said they would gladly handle some discomfort to ensure safety for all fliers.

Full body scanners are a mixed bag as well. The TSA has praised these machines, as “an excellent piece of technology that will significantly improve our detection capabilities” according to Gale Rossides the TSA’s acting administrator. The machine is said to have already found 60 “artfully concealed” prohibited items.However, not everyone is as convinced as the TSA is. A pilot for ExpressJet Airlines, Michael Roberts, recently refused the full body scan stating that it violated his fourth amendment. He and the TSA are currently engaged in a lawsuit over the incidence. Roberts said "Evidently my refusal to show them my whole naked body and my uncomfortableness with them putting their hands on me was a big deal”.

An image of what the scanner shows...a little to up close and personal

A main concern for many fliers is that while the scanner machines come set to not record or store images, they can easily be changed to do so. Another main issue is the threat of radiation the machine emits. Complaints have been heard wide and far throughout the Internet. Like the full body pat downs many believe the scanners are an intrusion of privacy and an ineffective way to detect threats.

Airport security is never a fun topic. However, threats occur and safety must come first. The battle between privacy and security has been an ongoing one and these measures are sure to be addressed in the future in a court of law. What do you think about these new measures?

Terrorism the Media and Tourism

Unfortunately, terrorism happens. This week I'll be looking at the effect terrorism has on tourism and how the media over-inflates and downplays the events. I picked Thailand to focus on since it has had both peaceful and turbulent times over the past few years.

Always a favorite vacation spot, political riots broke out in Thailand bringing forth a hail of panic from many countries chief among them, Britain. The UK went so far as to tell their citizens in April of 2010 to cease all non-essential travel. The travel organization Abta announced that in lieu of the UK's proclamation that travelers going to Thailand anyways would not be covered by travelers insurance.

A Telegraph article (A UK newspaper) said that the Foreign Office described the situation as “volatile and [the FO] recommends that British nationals in Thailand or planning to travel to the country check the travel advice on the embassy website regularly for details for further developments”

However, not everyone considers this situation as dangerous as the Brittish government does. CEO of travel site TravelFish, Stuart McDonald said the following in an interview with a UK based newspaper about the country’s reaction to the protests.

““It beggars belief that the (UK’s) FCO truly believes a blanket ban on ‘non-essential’ travel to Thailand is warranted. The vast majority of the country remains utterly unaffected by the disquiet in Bangkok. The move is completely irresponsible and actively damages both the UK’s outbound and Thailand’s inbound tourism industries. It may well also invalidate the travel insurance of tourists who are already there and travelling responsibly to safe places. The situation remains volatile, but as it stands this is an absolute over-reaction by the FCO.”

In addition a Lonely Planet discussion board showed many travelers didn’t think the situation was as dangerous as the media was making it out to be. Many users argued that if you stayed away from areas known for protest then you would be perfectly safe…and able to rake in on the excellent travel deals Thai hotels were offering.

Thailand tried to tell their side of the story in an interview with tradearabia.com. The director of tourism authority of Thailand, Pramoth Supyen, said visitors had nothing to fear due to “'Thainess' or the Thai way of life which is always warm and welcoming to visitors. Within Thailand there can sometimes be domestic disputes that over escalate and when they do they are always regrettable, but they are never directed at international guests intentionally by either side.” He also mentioned the initiative taken by the Thai government offering travelers insurance up to $10,000, in the absence of insurance offered by typical travel agencies.

All in all the media has blown up this controversy portraying Thailand as a country in turmoil dangerous to natives and foreigners alike. The situation is nowhere near this dire and as a result from the media’s fearmongering the Thai economy has been hit hard in its tourism sector. While countries do need to warn their citizens of possible hazards abroad, in my opinion the UK went completely overboard and directly harmed tourism when it was not necessary. Instances like this happen all the time, take the swine flue in Mexico, it is up to us to carefully analyze the situation and not depend entirely on the media. Who knows what they’ll be saying?