National Opt-Out Day is bust!!!!!

[nmbluesky]

CHICAGO — The big Opt-Out looked like a big bust Wednesday as Thanksgiving travelers around the country patiently submitted to full-body scans and pat-down searches rather than create havoc on one of the busiest flying days of the year.
In fact, in some parts of the U.S., bad weather was shaping up as a bigger threat to travelers' hopes of getting to their destinations on time.
For days, activists had waged a loosely organized campaign on the Internet to encourage airline passengers to refuse full-body scans and insist on a pat-down in what was dubbed National Opt-Out Day. But as of Wednesday afternoon, the cascading delays and monumental lines that many feared would result had not materialized.

"It was a day at the beach, a box of chocolates," said Greg Hancock, 61, who breezed through security at the Phoenix airport on the way to a vacation in California. He was sent through a body scanner after a golf ball marker set off the metal detector.
His wife, Marti Hancock, 58, said that ever since she was in the air on Sept. 11, 2001, and feared there was a bomb on her plane, she has been fully supportive of stringent security: "If that's what you have to do to keep us safe, that's what you have to do."
The Transportation Security Administration said few people seemed to be opting out. Some protesters did show up, including one man seen walking around the Salt Lake City airport in a skimpy, Speedo-style bathing suit, and others carrying signs denouncing the TSA's screening methods as unnecessarily intrusive and embarrassing.
Story: Student strips down to Speedo at Salt Lake City airport
By most accounts, though, the lines moved smoothly, and there was no more or less congestion at major U.S. airports than in previous years on the day before Thanksgiving.
"I would go so far as to say that National Opt-Out Day was a big bust," said Genevieve Shaw Brown, a spokeswoman for the travel company Travelocity, which had staff at 12 of the nation's largest airports watching for problems.
Protest organizers — some of whom had no plans themselves to fly on Wednesday — were not prepared to declare the event a flop, saying the publicity alone cranked up pressure on the White House and the TSA to review their security measures.
"The TSA now talks about re-evaluating everything," said James Babb, an organizer for one of the protest groups, We Won't Fly. "That is a tremendous victory for a grass-roots movement."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40351426/ns/travel/

[Kennah]

1. Maybe it was a success ...

... and people opted out of flying altogether. Just saying.

[krabigirl]

3. My parents cancelled their trip last weekend to Arizona. They drove there instead.

And my Dad HATES long car trips.

[hlthe2b]

Exactly... I'd like to know how many opted not to fly or canceled.

It would be difficult to know the former, but we should see some trend data compared to last year. Whether the airlines will admit the cancellation figures is another matter.

[krabigirl]

2. People didn't fly, and the machines were off in many airports.

Found this link on another thread http://gizmodo.com/comment/33032822

Also a friend of mine was planning to opt out at LAX, but USAirways had the machines off.

[SoCalNative]

4. Here's why it was a "bust"

Yeah, there are no problems today because backscatter machines are TURNED OFF at many airports and they are doing normal security procedures. Interesting that they'd rather risk people's safety than endure a PR disaster. By not giving people the chance to opt-out, they effectively take control of the story. Of course, by their logic, if there was such a heightened risk, then these machines should be used all the time (especially on a day when so many people are going to be flying). A move like this demonstrates that safety isn't their foremost concern; they just don't want to lose a big gov't contract. And of course, if there was some sort of attack today because the backscatters were turned off, then it's "See? We TOLD you so."


http://gizmodo.com/comment/33032822

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. BINGO!

My hubby and I were betting on this.... by the way. just because we know how this works...

[Raine]

10. EXACTLY on point! nt

[customerserviceguy]

15. "Risk people's safety"

Sure, if you think that ordinary Americans are any more of a threat today than they were before the damned porno scanners.

I figure that a lot of people didn't bother to fly, that's why the lines went smoothly. Also, let's face it, asking people to do something to delay a process that is already way too delayed by phony security theater was not going to work.

In any case, the people who launched the protest got the attention they wanted in the first place. Too bad we couldn't have done that before the Iraq war.

[TheWatcher]

5. Fascism WINS!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!

"Springtime For Airport Security...."

Bomp-Ba-Dum-Dum

The Fascists are happy and gay

We're causing harassment and delay

Groping your junk to keep you "safe"

Springtime for Airport Security

Bomp-Ba-Dum-Dum

Finding those Bombs in your Pants

Springtime For Airport Security

Come Get Your Love Pats by Random Chance

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5L213Ip_Dg4/S82_VZuD3CI/AAAAAAAAGyI/iFgINs6lCnY/s1600/dick+shawn+hitler.jpg

[phasma ex machina]

8. +1 (sarcastically speaking)

:sarcasm:

[SoCalNative]

6. However

133 LAX passengers refuse body scans and get pat-downs, TSA says

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/11/133-lax-passengers-refused-body-scans-and-received-pat-downs-tsa-says.html

[nmbluesky]

7. 133?

133 of A thousand passage every day at LAX

[frylock]

11. you seem real happy about this

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Protest FAIL...One guy on NPR at ATL Hartsfield: "There was a longer line at Starbucks."

:rofl:

[JI7]

13. most people don't care or even know, they just want to go be with friends and family

especially if this is one of the few times they get to see or spend time with each other

[Bragi]

14. Overblown Protest Campaign a TSA Inside Job?

The media call the protest a "loosely organized campaign on the Internet".

I wonder if the staged, straw man feel to this campaign was accidental?

[DimplesinMI]

16. People just wanted to arrive at their destination.....

without the drama. Still, the media wanted the hype! Total fail....