The pat down?

A couple of weeks ago when I was in Florida I was hearing about the new regulations at airports having to do with pat downs. It was my luck that I was the luck recipient of being pulled out of line and having this done to me.

Since, I have been hearing the horror stories of how bad this is and how intrusive it is. Well, I have to give my take on this. It is not that bad.

First of all, the agent doing the pat down was very professional. To begin with he notified me of exactly the procedure he was using. Step by step, there were no surprises. When he came to sensitive areas, he notified me that he would be using the back of his hands and showed the exact methods he would be using. He stopped and informed me at least 3 different times. And every time he let me know I had the choice to do it in a secluded area.

The whole time for this, about 1.5 minutes. My bags had just come out of the scanners and once I was done I grabbed my bags and went on my way.

Here is the thing. I usually travel with a tube of Carmex in my pocket. It is rather small. This is the first time that an agent identified something in my pocket. (I was simply ask to show it to the agent) Before, this had never been caught even in pat downs.

End of story is, I feel more secure and I am willing to submit myself to a (Simple) pat down to ensure security (For me and others) Do I feel like my rights have been violated? No, in what way? Has these new procedures gone beyond reasonable search? No!

Now, that 45 minute wait at 6am was a bit long.