Airport security tightened

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Airport pat downs tightened

Nowadays the enhanced passenger security pat downs at airports go too far now before the busy holiday travel season.

However, more than two-thirds of travellers actually support the new full-body security-screening machines at the airports as most put higher priority on preventing terrorism than protecting personal privacy.

The screening methods adopted have drawn complaints from passengers as it rely on highly revealing full-body imaging scanners and physical patdowns for travellers who choose to opt out of the scans.

TSA estimates that fewer than two percent of the two million passengers screened daily, or 40 000, are given the patdowns.

With pilots allowed to carry guns and cockpits secured against hijacking threats after the 2001 hijack attacks on New York and Washington, screening in recent years has focused on sophisticated explosives that are hard to detect.

Authorities last month thwarted the bombing of US-bound air cargo flights. A year ago, a passenger tried to set off explosives in his underwear while on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day. The Yemen-based group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for both plots.