Domestic airports to get tighter security, full-body scanners
By David Flynn, May 8 2018
Air travellers will face more stringent security over the coming 12 months under a sweeping security overhaul flagged in the 2018 Federal Budget.
Advanced 'full-body scanners' are to be rolled out across Australia's nine major domestic and international airports, replacing the current metal detectors at many screening points. There will also be more police and Border Force officers assigned to those major airports.
The plan will also see upgraded 'security infrastructure' at 64 regional airports.
Some $172 million will be set aside for these tougher airport security measures, although there's no sign of rumoured moves to restrict liquids, gels and other items in carry-on baggage oj domestic flights.
"We are worried about the settings at our domestic airports," Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton commented in the lead-up to the budget.
"Obviously there is a different security setting at our international airports where we do have full body scanners."
"We know that airports, forecourts within the airports, are targets for terrorist organisations around the world. We have seen that in Europe."
PREVIOUS | Australia's domestic airports could soon adopt international-grade security including full-body scanners and limiting the amount of liquids and gels in carry-on bags.
However, advanced bag-screening technology might mean that travellers won't need to remove their laptops and liquids from hand luggage.
This week's 2018 Federal Budget is said to include money "to help regional airports pay for the massive upgrades to passenger and baggage security checks," according to Fairfax Media, while "Australia's major airports will be expected to pay for the multi-million dollar upgrade themselves."
The security overhaul will see full-body X-ray scanners replace metal detector gates at domestic airport screening points and "could also include restricting liquids and other items in carry-on baggage," in response to continued concerns over possible terrorism.
The revised measures are said to be modelled on European Union standards for aviation security.
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
02 Mar 2013
Total posts 32
Security theatre at it worst. Where is the threat? Even if there is one this isn’t the way to combat it. More to the point who’s gettin gpaid to advocate for his boondoggle.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Mar 2018
Total posts 16
If they do indeed restrict liquids on Australian domestic flights this will be a massive step back for us as a nation.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
The only useful upgrade of body scanners will be their removal.
09 May 2018
Total posts 4
I agree, body scanners are an unrealised health hazard if you travel frequently. Air crew are exempt for good reason.
Turkish Airlines - Miles & Smiles
08 Jun 2014
Total posts 262
Would rather not depart Australia onto an aircraft in which could become a weapon as one nearly did in late 2017, thanks to Israeli and Australian intelegence we didn't have it happen. I'd rather be safe, have a longer line during the security procedure then not.
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
From what I've read, the greater threat to security in the air comes from those on the tarmac such as baggage handlers.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Wouldn't the bigger threat be from the government and the other idiots who come up with these dumb ideas which do nothing to improve security in any way and in fact make real security worse off?
Each step down the path of theater, such as this proposal, is another hole opened in real, useful, security and increased damage to the economy.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
You do realise that body scanners and liquid limits make people less safe right?
They don't improve security and, at best, waste billions of dollars, damage the economy and distract people from actual threats. At worst, body scanner installations in airports create security threats.
09 May 2018
Total posts 4
Anyone looked in to the safety of body scanners? The Phillip Mortis of the future
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
Himeno, it's equivalent to what in another area economists call 'deadweight costs.'
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Dec 2016
Total posts 30
Yeah no. This would put me off flying.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
03 Oct 2016
Total posts 21
Whilst I don't agree with the comments that say this will make security worse (provide a source and I may believe you), I do think it will do little to make things safer.
Air New Zealand - Airpoints
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 79
I don't recall if it was an airline or an airport person I was speaking with but they did say there were security issues within Australia that never made the papers. I was quite surprised as I figured something of that nature would make the papers. I'm guessing these measures are in response to their ongoing concerns.
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 110
no thanks.can you imagine paying for drink bottles just as much as petrol stations to carry onto a plane if flying one of the cheaper carriers to eat with something you buy there.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 23
What is the reference to petrol stations?????
27 Jul 2017
Total posts 17
Smoke and mirrors. When airside staff come under the same scrutiny as passengers we may be getting somewhere. Otherwise it's all a big waste of money.
02 Nov 2017
Total posts 34
Exactly. I'm pretty sure baggage handlers and refulers aren't getting scanned and having their water bottles confiscated before they work on their aircraft with a minor degree of supervision. Security theatre at its worst.
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
I vaguely recall reading that airports have 'instituted checking' for these staff or contractors. One has one's doubts, and what if these people have 'mates' doing the checking?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Jan 2017
Total posts 74
All BS smoke and mirrors when a known repeat attempter (previously tipped off to border security) 12yo can book and fly multiple sectors unaccompanied with no parental permission across Australia and onward to Bali with no interception by airline or "Border Security" staff.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 May 2015
Total posts 80
What I've never understood is how you can't bring knives through security but you can pick one up in any Qantas lounge and take it onboard with absolute ease.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
13 Dec 2014
Total posts 79
...and don't forget the stainless steel cutlery onboard.
BA Gold
01 Apr 2012
Total posts 197
In comparing Australia with say, european or american airports there is one big difference. In OZ, the international departures are 100% sterile. By that I mean there is no mixing at all of international and domestic passengers. Well OK I know there are a handful of JQ domestic flights from SYD which demonstrates my point - those domestic passengers must also endure the security restrictions of international flights.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Jan 2017
Total posts 74
cooper81 "In OZ, the international departures are 100% sterile. By that I mean there is no mixing at all of international and domestic passengers. "
There is fallacious assumption by authorities and others that passengers are the overwhelming main (sole) risk to flights.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
ID is not security. There is no security reason to check IDs prior to boarding aircraft. Everyone on board the flight is screened, it doesn't matter who is on the flight.
The only reason airlines check IDs is for finanical reasons.
Aer Lingus - Gold Circle Club
20 Nov 2017
Total posts 5
I 100% agree with coope81. I have recently flown a number of internal flights in Australia. My sister booked, had boarding card on phone, hand luggage only so no desk etc. I made the comment at the time.... If I was 'Mr Terrorist' this place is so easy!
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
The issue is, what many people think is security, isn't. They then roll out "security" measures that people think are actually security, often to the detriment of real security measures.
There is no security reason to check IDs and boarding passes for entry to the airside areas of airports. Nor is there any security reason to block non passengers from those areas.
05 Nov 2014
Total posts 9
As a person with a Pacemaker I welcome the Body Scanners as I do not need to remove my shoes and belt then await some one to frisk me before getting through security. I find travelling overseas less stressful than our present security system.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 23
My pacemaker has only been identified once, as I recall in NZ departures, in three or four years. Otherwise I must say I have forgotten all about it.
QF
11 Jul 2014
Total posts 1024
What happens overseas eventually happens here in Oz and I’m all for improved security for everyone including ground staff. But nothing is ever fool proof, just after 9-11 I was accidental let through Frankfurt security without a search.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Then you shouldn't be for this because this is not an improvement in any way whatsoever.
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 156
The liquids rule is security theatre at its most farcical. Until now Australia has bravely held out for domestic flights - even much of the EU (the UK aside) takes a pretty relaxed attitude to it, suggesting they know it's wholly unnecessary too.
The UK by contrast seems to be obsessed with making passengers stuff everything into a little plastic bag and determining arcane questions like whether a crystal deodorant stick could actually be classed as a liquid, while the queue lengthens and people miss their flights.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
LHR once gave me extra screening because I didn't have any liquids and therefor didn't have any bag to put the non existant liquids in.
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
Your comment was brief, but one of the funnier ones I've read on these type of sites for some weeks. A playwright could not make that up.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
31 Jan 2016
Total posts 89
Just back from France and UK. More technology please and happy to arrive a little earlier for flights if needed as the bomb scare in CDG is not a pleasant experience.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
09 Aug 2016
Total posts 38
Can we stop letting non-flyers through security checkpoints for domestic flights too, please?
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 110
you might be meeting family coming off a plane or be an aircraft enthusiast who likes seeing planes come and go.i don't see what banning people not flying on the day will prove.i can understand places like singapore or hong kong that do not run domestic flights operating like that but australia no way.in fact i am old enough as a kid to remember the days on weekends my brother and i used to see planes come and go on weekends before the security systems got fitted in the mid eighties.seriously do we want the next generation to miss out.
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 156
And what purpose would that serve?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Nov 2014
Total posts 51
If a person who is a security threat can currently get in as a non-flyer, then they'll still be able to get in if you ban non-flyers - they just have to go buy a ticket.
Better to not have the illusion that it's more secure and to just ensure that everyone who goes through security is screened the same.
18 Aug 2015
Total posts 55
I'm at Sydney DOM now and they have full body scanners installed already, not using yet
01 Jun 2016
Total posts 58
We've never had a major aviation terrorism event in Australia that has led to the loss of life. It may just be that we're a small target, but I like to think it's because of our capable security and intelligence forces. I trust their judgement in their assessment of the security of domestic travel. Even if it will be a pain.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Exactly. That proves the current systems are working, meaning there is no reason for body scanners - which don't work anyway.
By installing body scanners, they are replacing a system that works with one that doesn't.
01 Jun 2016
Total posts 58
How do you know the proposed changes do not work?
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Experience. Evidence. If you think body scanners do ANYTHING useful, you clearly haven't been paying attention.
Body scanners have had many trials around the world and have been in use in many airports around the world in both domestic and international settings.
Not only did they fail every single operational test they have ever been put though (yet the ignorant politicians force them through anyway), they make it easier for dangerous items to get through screening.
ETPs are much more useful then body scanners. The only reason they aren't being used is because TSA weren't bothered to use them properly.
The current system works. Systems based on body scanners don't. If there is some threat that requires an increase in security, money is better spent on more ETD machines, more random pat downs and intelligence.
If liquids are some sort of issue (they aren't, it is not possible to get any sort of liquid based device to an airport without it going off on the way due to their being unstable), there is no reason for limits or bans on liquids. Just get the liquid scanners that are in use in Japan.
04 May 2018
Total posts 30
So you can't take a 500ml bottle of water but you can take 5 100ml bottles of water and an empty bottle.
Qantas
19 Apr 2012
Total posts 1429
I am absolutely sure if you had 5 100ml bottles of water and an empty bottle you would be quizzed and you might be asked to take a mouthful put of each; fun eh it it wasn’t water. That just screams dodgy.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2015
Total posts 219
Aircraft have been used to massacre 3000 people in NY. Extra screening to stop a repeat is fine by me. Happy to lose a few minutes of time and make sure I arrive safely.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Your point? So called "extra" screening in the manner they are proposing would not have prevented that.
The ONLY reason that happened was the policy of the day to cooperate with hijackers. That policy also ended before the end of the day in question.
Again, body scanners and liquid limits do nothing to improve security or safety. They are a distraction and divert resources away from things that actually work.
Hell, the liquid limits are based on a so called "plot" that never got past an early planning stage and is based on a concept that isn't even possible.
A large part of the reason TSA has such a high failure rate is because they waste so much of their time looking at/for things that don't matter in terms of security in any way at all, while relying on body scanners that make it easier to get things through.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2015
Total posts 219
So what would you suggest be done and how would you suggest the TSA and all other border security forces go about what is an invasive and emotionally charged job? Totally eliminate scanners and every person is physically inspected? Disallow all carry on bags?
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Why do people keep confusing "no body scanners" with "no security"? You seem to think this is an all or nothing situation.
Walk through metal detector
Cabin baggage xray
random pat downs
random ETD swabs
increased intelligence
potential use of Japans liquid scanners
potential use of ETP machines
If there is some need to, use of pat downs and ETD can be increased and dogs can be brought in.
Real, sensible, security.
NOT theater.
Body scanners are not security. They are theater.
18 Aug 2015
Total posts 55
Won't stop someone fly a few drones into aircraft engines
26 Sep 2017
Total posts 38
I agree with safety, but this security screening is way out of context. To start with, the first thing that should be banned from the cabin is cigarette lighters. They can bring planes down, yet you can take one aboard, and curiously, you must keep it ON YOUR PERSON!!!...Now, to get things in perspective...aircraft were used to massacre 3000 people in NY. Think about this...each year approx 30000 people in America are shot by handgun...half of them fatally...10 times the fatalities in NY. Yet, when you walk into a bar in America, are you subjected to security screening?....noooooo. `I travel to USA 4 times a year. I have done since 2008. One night walking home from a bar in west Hollywood, in 2012, I saw a taxi driver shot and killed not 30mtrs from me. Last year in a carpark in Florida I saw an argument resulting in one person being shot dead.....my message is, get the priorities right...
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Dec 2017
Total posts 18
Bring it on. Having to unload laptops, etc takes the casual traveler forever. Full body scanners so I don't have to get a pat down and take off my shoes every time my hip sets of the bloody metal detector!!
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
Will these new measures slow processing of passengers through security?
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Yes, of course it will. If they mandate body scanners only, you'll get what is happening in the US. Long slow lines. Body scanners take 3-5 times longer to clear someone then a metal detector.
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
Himeno,assuming what you say is true, won't that mean airlines complain to airports because at busier times security will be unable to process the number of travellers per hour booked for travel?
06 Dec 2017
Total posts 110
what are they trying to do.if anyone has seen the new season of wentworth that is what they are proposing to do to airports.treat us like prisoners or criminals for safety.what a joke.
05 Oct 2011
Total posts 195
Typical politicians bending to influence from (vested) interested parties. What evidence is there that things are presently deficient. The only thing I see is the nonsensical "lottery" for checking for explosives. Either they should check everyone or no-one. Politicians refuse to belive that sometimes doing nothing is the best option.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Jul 2017
Total posts 1
I may be the minority, but I strongly support this initiative. As a frequent flyer with double hip replacements, the body scanners will eliminate the need to remove shoes, belt, empty pockets, and be manually hand-scanned every time I fly. As I am not the only one with hip and knee replacements, this initiative should therefore speed up the security processes for everyone.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
05 Aug 2016
Total posts 9
As the proud owner of two metal hips I welcome the introduction of body scanners as they remove the need for a secondary male scan.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
14 Dec 2016
Total posts 1
What is the point when you don't actually have to show any ID to board a plane - just take an A4 printed page and on you go!
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
ID isn't sercuity.
Aer Lingus - Gold Circle Club
20 Nov 2017
Total posts 5
I regularly use Gatwick in London who have had full body scanners for some time now (and an infinitely more efficient security set up than any Australian airport I have been in) and I have been in the scanner twice I think in 20 or 30 flights. It's a secondary check after the metal detectors.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
We've also always been at war with East Asia.
Aer Lingus - Gold Circle Club
20 Nov 2017
Total posts 5
I'm not sure what this means, however when talking about security it's the whole set up that's important, not just adding a different type of scanner.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Intelligence operations know who will be there from monitoring bookings and if anything were to be found, they would be in place to do what is needed when, or before, said person arrived.
By the time any ID check is done at an airport, it is too late for anyone to do anything. The person doing any ID check is also not going to know if the person they are looking at is a person of interest.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Oct 2016
Total posts 11
Perhaps they could set an iq test for Australian Airport security personnel. Most of them ended up there after getting rejected for a job at Bunnings. No people skills and plenty of wannabe FBI agent attitude. Just say the magic words of safety and anything is justified to them. This traveller loathes them.
10 May 2018
Total posts 3
American security workers are the worst. So pumped up on their self importance
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Jul 2015
Total posts 27
Got pulled up on a PQQ SYD flight because I had a pocket sized sellotape dispenser. It wasn't the blade that was the problem, it was the metre or so of "restraining tape"
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
13 Dec 2014
Total posts 79
...and what is that you are wearing holding up your pants?
It's been a while since I've travelled domestically so all my accounts with security are at international departures. Regarding binding tape, I've recently spoken to security at Changi, Schiphol and Kastrup and to cabin crew. They all agree. You can be bound by a trouser belt. You can also be bound by clothes. One head steward said the tape they use onboard to secure rowdy passengers could also be commandeered by a terrorist. Not to mention the stainless steel cutlery that can be used to threaten crew and passengers. I mentioned this in an earlier comment but I wasn’t thinking that post was referring to domestic flights.
As Himeno commented…security starts way before you get to the airport. Full body scanners are only for show. Sad to say.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Sep 2011
Total posts 15
All this, but we still don't check the identity of people travelling. Try getting through Domestic TSA in the US without showing ID - buckley's chance!!
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2424
You can still fly within the United States without showing photo ID: you'll just be subjected to a higher level of screening (the same as somebody with SSSS on their boarding pass), to avoid people booking flights under false names to avoid heightened screening if they would normally get the SSSS.
25 Feb 2017
Total posts 25
Whats the point of ID how many TSA Inspectors in USA know if say a Bhutan Passport is Genuine or Fake. Know Traveller and Full Hand Fingerprints is the only way. Global Entry USA Style is the way to go.
Qatar Airways
06 Jul 2016
Total posts 47
Full body scanners do not seem to be effective: last month at LHR I was scanned and then also had a body frisk and metal detector, and then had to remove my shoes, to put through x-ray. Then they took my walking stick off me to x-ray it. They were happy to just leave a humiliated disabled man with no stick or shoes 20m from where x-rayed items were retrievable.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
30 Jul 2015
Total posts 15
Reality check ,as a few of you have highlighted Australian domestic airports are a joke. Yes travelling internally in places such as the US is frustrating, I for one feel incredibly safe and feel we are so behind other developed countries in adopting tougher domestic security procedures.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Too bad you're feeling is misplaced.
You feel safe. You aren't any safer with body scanners then you would be without them.
Australian domestic security isn't a joke. It (has been) is sane. The jokes are the international liquid limits and body scanners existing.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
17 Mar 2016
Total posts 27
Flying in Australia is infinitely better than flying domestically in USA, although process does need changes. I do find the Airport Security staff in Australia much more professional than their counterparts in US. Body Scanner is not invasive, although, in US when they ask to many people to go through the Body Scan, it just gets absurd with passengers standing in line, in the body scan area waiting for Security to 'dismiss' them.
Air Canada - Aeroplan
28 Feb 2015
Total posts 122
The installation of body scanners terrifies me - the opposite of people with replacement joints. Nobody seems to be considering the possibility of damaging amounts of radiation. As a cancer survivor who has had massive amounts of radiation, the last thing I want is to be bombarded with more x-rays every time I fly (and yes, I know about cosmic rays at 39,000 ft, but radiation damage is cumilative). And I'm a very frequent traveller, which means a lot of airports to go through. This article says "x-rays"; an article (here?) last week said "CT scan", which is massively more amounts of radiation. Is there going to be an opt-out possibility? I'd be willing to strip naked in a private room rather than have an x-ray. (It looks like having a Nexus = Trusted Traveller card issued by the American government is going to count for nothing, though it usually means not being sent to a scanner in North America.)
12 May 2017
Total posts 5
I agree with you entirely !
19 Jul 2017
Total posts 5
Body scanners do not use X-rays Outthere1000
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Some types do. While most places using body scanners have banned the use of the back scatter scanners, others haven't. The only reason the US isn't using back scatter body scanners is because the manufacturer couldn't get the gumby software to work on them.
The millimeter wave scanners that are in use the other end of the light spectrum from xrays.
There has been indications that the part of the spectrum that is used can rip apart DNA, but there has never been any studies to test that. No one has been allowed to test the MMW scanners for these questions.
17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
Himeno, when you say 'rip apart (one's) DNA', can you explain that a little more?
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
There was a study by Los Alamos on millimeter waves in general.
They found that waves in these frequencies could
"unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication.”
although the study was not related to body scanners, the frequencies used in the study are in the same range as those used by the MMW body scanners.
More research is needed and no one has been allowed to test the MMW scanners.
The only "tests" that have been done are the scanners design specs released and using those numbers to release statements like "with out current understanding, those frequencies are harmless".
It is unknown if the scanners actually use those stated frequencies, if the frequencies change if the machine is damaged or not configured/installed correctly. Nor is it known that millimeter waves are actually harmless in the increased amounts people are now getting.
12 May 2017
Total posts 5
This country slides further and further down the drain every time the government opens it's mouth. Yet again, wasted resources directed to the wrong areas.There a GAPING holes in back end airport security with baggage handling only one of many examples. Instead, lets do all we can to upset the traveling public with unnecessary and ineffective measures that are obviously connected more to business interests who supply these security systems than actual security itself. Every time you (and millions of others)are put through absurd and ill-thought out security inconveniences that cost billions in lost efficiencies,the question begs "have the terrorists already won?"
19 Jul 2017
Total posts 5
I recently had a 125ml tube of aftershave lotion confiscated boarding QF10 at Perth en route to Melbourne. This is a domestic flight leaving from the international section of the domestic terminal. The tube was almost empty and quite obviously almost empty. When I protested I was told “we go on the label on the container “. They would have let me on board if I had two tubes of 100ml each. Talk about stupidity.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
13 Dec 2014
Total posts 79
Similar situation with me although mine was international in Adelaide. I had taken a tube of toothpaste that was 110ml together with a Nivea roll-on (liquid) deodorant 50ml. Both clearly displayed in a reseallable plastic bag. No other liquids or gels as the others were checked-in. They checked visually and the toothpaste was duly confiscated. I didn't realise it was 110ml thinking it was a tube of 100ml. I asked whether it was OK since it was used. Like in swilk49 situation their reply was, "it didn't matter, it's what's written on the tube". At HKIA and Changi where I was recently. I had two reseallable bags belonging to my kids and myself. They just scanned all liquids and gels in the backpack. No visual inspection and no questions. Go figure.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
Because SIN and HKG are sane. They only check for liquids at the gate for flights departing to nations with international liquid limits - mainly AU, US and UK.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Dec 2017
Total posts 18
To make the scanners even more popular than they already are they should give you the option to upload your scan to instagram! #nobombs
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 May 2016
Total posts 33
What about ID? Can’t believe we don’t check ID - should be mandatory.
12 Dec 2012
Total posts 1031
No sercuity reason for ID checks. Period.
QF
21 Jul 2016
Total posts 32
Airport workers have security checks to a very detailed level before they even get a job. I am a consultant and was allowed to access the apron. I have carried out work on the sterile side many times and apart from the security checks and safety induction including drug testing, supervision is strict.
03 Oct 2011
Total posts 39
Liquids checks are pure theatre. Fat load of of rubbish. Inconvenience people to make them feel safer. ID checks are a revenue protection measure for airlines to stop people from selling tickets to each other. Full body scanners are pointless. Maybe have a few of the. For people with metal implants, but don't make them the default.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
27 Apr 2017
Total posts 5
Full body scanners aren't pointless. Just you get implanted joints, plates, etc and find out how hard it really is getting thru security. You have to have a 'wand down' and an Explosives Detection Test - so embarrassing! Going thru the body scanners, they don't pick up implanted joints, just what's on the outside of your body.
03 Oct 2011
Total posts 39
Install CT scanners for bags. That makes things better since nothing needs to come out of bags (laptops and liquids can stay in), so simpler process, and ch clear can see everything on screen.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
27 Apr 2017
Total posts 5
Give me a full body scanner over those old x-ray machines anytime. The scanner doesn't pick up any metal implanted inside you, only what is outside your body.
23 Sep 2017
Total posts 4
I travel regularly to the USA, if they get rid of the security guards asking you stupid questions while you are trying to check in your baggage just maybe they could afford better scanners !
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Mar 2020
Total posts 1
Thanks to one of the new Full Body Scanners, in a "Priority Lane", I recently 'got the treatment'. I searched the web after, and discovered - as another passenger said at the time - that the scanners are sensitive to sweat. I guess I had been sweating in my groin, because after I went through there was a Red spot on the body image ... all around the big X for the genitals.
Accordingly, I received a 'Pat Down' search - in the passenger line - which included my penis and testicles. Five different security staff waved me away when I tried to report this as a sexual assault.
I have been unable to identify any policy that indicates any limit on what areas of the body a pat down search can cover. I described what happened to a local policeman who said it was illegal under State law, but the Airport is on Commonwealth land and so no action can be taken.
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