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[Andy B]

we flew back from Lanzarotta yesterday and I failed their doorway type scanner, as I have done before in Spain. So, the staff member produced a packet of strips, wiped one over the palms & backs of my hands & also across my stomach .... did something with the strip & then gave me the nod to carry on.
What was he looking for? 

[YZ250]

Sounds like the Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) strips. Usually used on hands and waistline area to detect any tiny particles. The strip is placed in a machine and gives a quick reading.
I have a naturally guilty face, even when I’ve done nothing wrong, so I get pulled to the side wherever I travel. 

[Andy B]

Sounds like the Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) strips. Usually used on hands and waistline area to detect any tiny particles. The strip is placed in a machine and gives a quick reading.
I have a naturally guilty face, even when I’ve done nothing wrong, so I get pulled to the side wherever I travel. 

I've thought that it might be something along those lines. The previous time I went through the scanner a couple of times, checked my pockets for stuff but it still flagged up something & that's when I got the paper strip test. I passed it & went through. I later realised I still had a belt on with a metal buckle! 

[Doctor Gollum]

Yup pretty routine.

Basic when you get scanned, regardless of the actual type of scanner, one of three things happen...

1. No alarm and you go about your day.
2. The machine randomly pings. You get swabbed and, provided you pass this off you go.
3. The machine pings because it actually detects something, ie a belt , you get searched and swabbed and as above.

The swab is a counter terrorist explosives check and contact with an airbag can set it off (to give an idea of sensitivity), and to be compliant the scanners HAVE to throw out random passengers for swabbing. Same applies to your bags, (both checked and carry).

A full alarm means a full pat down etc, and officially they should also pull your bag and search it. They get really pissed off when you pull them up for not doing this, but they leave themselves wide open by not doing it

The body scanner picks up everything down to tissue in pockets so some airports make you remove your belt so they have less chance of having to search you, on part for time saving and in part complacency. I generally refuse to remove my belt going through the Heathrow scanners... They don't like it, but if you make a point of statement that you aren't refusing a search, they can't do much about it.

The liquid limits for crew are, how to put this..., variable, but the scanner and swab process is universally applied.

[TheBoy]

I always get pulled in scanners for a possible metalic object in my thigh, so get the pat down routine.  Not, AFAIK, there is no metal in my thigh, and their handheld scanners done see it.

Like YZ, I must have a guilty face, as if I get through the scanner OK, I get pulled for a swab test

Fortunately, I've never had to endue the full test with the finger

[Sir Tigger KC]

With my metal hips I always get pinged. 

Sometimes resulting in the pat down, sometimes not. 

[STEMO]

I always get pulled in scanners for a possible metalic object in my thigh, so get the pat down routine.  Not, AFAIK, there is no metal in my thigh, and their handheld scanners done see it.

Like YZ, I must have a guilty face, as if I get through the scanner OK, I get pulled for a swab test

Fortunately, I've never had to endue the full test with the finger

You can always hope 

[Andy B]

Yup pretty routine.

Basic when you get scanned, regardless of the actual type of scanner, one of three things happen...

1. No alarm and you go about your day.
2. The machine randomly pings. You get swabbed and, provided you pass this off you go.
3. The machine pings because it actually detects something, ie a belt , you get searched and swabbed and as above.

The swab is a counter terrorist explosives check and contact with an airbag can set it off (to give an idea of sensitivity), and to be compliant the scanners HAVE to throw out random passengers for swabbing. Same applies to your bags, (both checked and carry).

A full alarm means a full pat down etc, and officially they should also pull your bag and search it. They get really pissed off when you pull them up for not doing this, but they leave themselves wide open by not doing it

The body scanner picks up everything down to tissue in pockets so some airports make you remove your belt so they have less chance of having to search you, on part for time saving and in part complacency. I generally refuse to remove my belt going through the Heathrow scanners... They don't like it, but if you make a point of statement that you aren't refusing a search, they can't do much about it.

The liquid limits for crew are, how to put this..., variable, but the scanner and swab process is universally applied.

Thanks Al .... 

[YZ250]

I always get pulled in scanners for a possible metalic object in my thigh, so get the pat down routine.  Not, AFAIK, there is no metal in my thigh, and their handheld scanners done see it.
…….

When I had my heart valves replaced, my heart wasn’t functioning on its own so they fitted an external pacemaker. The wires went in at stomach level and up to my heart. When they were sure that I was breathing unaided, they went to pull the wires out, but after almost three months the wires had become fused into my body and wouldn’t come out, so they cut them off flush with my skin and left them in. I was convinced that I may get some grief when going/returning from holiday but it hasn’t happened yet.     Not related to the wires but I always seem to get pulled to one side for them to run the wand over me. I have no objection to that if stricter checks catch the bad guys. 

[YZ250]

……
Basically when you get scanned, regardless of the actual type of scanner, one of three things happen...
……………

Both my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter are diabetic. My granddaughter has an insulin pump that injects via a cannula, which she’s had since she was 10 years old (she’s 12 now). The pump supplier states that certain scanners, especially metal detecting scanners, will throw her diabetic insulin pump out of calibration and it won’t know what dosage to inject. Based on this, she has to swerve the scanners and be wand’ed down. She has a medical letter for such instances and has never had any grief so I assume this type of information is automatically relayed to the scanner staff. 

[Doctor Gollum]

If you have a genuine medical condition with a note then they have no reason to give you any hassle. Mum had recording heart monitor fitted for a couple of years and the same applies to her


It's not that you're refusing to be screened, just that they have to adapt to individual needs.