What Will Air Travel Be Like This Thanksgiving Holiday?

Thanksgiving week is traditionally the busiest week of the year for air travel. With newly installed security measures at major airports, what can travelers expect in the way of lines or delays?

As this traveler-posted video at Chicago's O'Hare airport last week suggests, the new security measures, requiring all passengers to pass through full body scanners or submit to a pat-down, have slowed things down a bit.

The wrinkles may have gotten worked out last week so that the process is smoother this week, but you might not want to count on it. Many in the traveling public have objected to the revealing body scans and intimate pat-downs, and at least one group have proposed a protest at the security gates this week to bottle-neck the process.

Organized opt-out campaign

A group of protestors who have launched the website wewontfly.com have urged travelers to "opt-out" of the body scans this week, forcing Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners to conduct more time-consuming pat-downs.

"Should you decide to opt out, you must be aware that the TSA will perform a pat down instead of subjecting you to the WBI/AIT, AKA porno-scanner," the wbsite advises. "The TSA may try to pressure you into submitting to the scanners .You are not required by law to submit to imaging, however, many TSA employees may attempt to intimidate, coerce or insist that it is required."

The site, which also urges consumers not to fly, as a way of protest, does not identify the individuals or groups responsible for it.

Meanwhile, Flyers Rights, a consumer group formed in response to passenger strandings at airport tarmacs, has also entered the fray, calling on government transportation and safety officials to consult with consumer groups on the issue.

Ignored

"Airline Passengers have so far been ignored in this process," saidKate Hanni, Director of Flyers Rights. "Thus far, Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and Administrator (John) Pistole have taken meetings with airline executives, hotels, pilots unions, and flight attendant unions, but not a single meeting with the people who pay the money to fly. How is that possible or right?"

TSA has remained busy in the last week dealing with the uprising and has thus far remained firm in its stance that the new screening measures are necessary. The agency has also addressed what it calls a number of "myths" about the process that have circulated on the Internet in recent days.

For example, the TSA Blog said it is a myth that all children receive pat-downs when they pass through security. The agency responded after video showed up on the Internet of a shirtless young body receiving a pat-down from TSA personnel.

In this case, TSA said the boy received the pat-down after he triggered the metal detector. The agency said that is the only type of instance where children receive the intimate frisking. http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm

TSA also denies that the pat-downs are invasive.

"Only passengers who alarm a walk through metal detector or AIT machine or opt out of the AIT receive a pat-down," the agency said on its blog. "For this reason, it is designed to be thorough in order to detect any potential threats and keep the traveling public safe. Pat-downs are performed by same-gender officers and all passengers have the right to a private screening with a travel companion at any time."

But according to various media reports over the weekend, the backlash is not dying down. How that affects Thanksgiving week travel remains to be seen, but passengers should probably give themselves a lot of extra time and prepare for the worst.