Thanksgiving Eve already is one of the heaviest flying days of the year, but this Wednesday could go down in history as a true travel nightmare. When the more than 1.1 million fliers expected to pass through Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan National airports this week, they’ll be facing security lines lengthened by a new regulations that require them to pass through a full-body scanner or face a detailed pat down.
A national movement to protest the regulations on Wednesday might make those lines might go even slower.
“Some people might miss their flights,” said Joel Smiler, hot line director for the consumer group FlyersRights.org. “I would arrive three hours early.”
FlyersRights.org has endorsed National Opt-Out Day, a movement urging flyers to protest the full-body scanners by choosing to be patted down. The idea is that if enough flyers opt in to opt out, the lines will grow long enough to draw attention to participants’ outrage.
But “the purpose isn’t to delay passengers,” Smiler said. “The purpose is to draw a line in the sand over how much is too much in giving up privacy rights.”
Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole isn’t happy with the protest.
“On the eve of a major national holiday and less than one year after al Qaeda’s failed attack last Christmas Day, it is irresponsible for a group to suggest travelers opt out of the very screening that may prevent an attack,” Pistole said in a statement. “This technology is not only safe, it’s vital to aviation security and a critical measure to thwart potential terrorist attacks.”
