Should Chat-downs Replace Pat-downs?

No source of deception detection is going to be 100%. Feeling lucky?

Millimeter wave scanners are much more reliable. Get over the modesty thing. You don't have a constitutional right to fly on your terms.

100% agreed!

I say they add it to the repertoire of security tactics, but not make a fuss over it. Don't use it in place of scans and continue the (possibly) random selections for more extensive screening like pat downs. The idea should be to make it harder to get contraband past security.

Of course, the TSA will never get effective at screening for suspicious behavior by paying just over minimum wage so the cost of air travel will have to go up again to pay for it.

If they're willing to serve cocktails and give me a foot massage, I also agree 100%.

Can we hold the chat- down on the bench outside the airport so I can also enjoy a smoke before my flight?

Note: I certainly hope they don't plan on using the current batch of TSA personnel to carry out these chats. They often times mistake anger for suspicious behavior. Big difference!

In the US, it would also be helpful if the chatters spoke English. This is a large source of misunderstanding. Rather than filling government quotas, hiring English speaking employees would make things go sooooo much smoother.

Any well-hung dude will no doubt favor an X-ray scan, to say nothing of a pat-down. (Just look on the bright side....)

And if you're gay, just go for the cavity search. Whoopee!

I suspect that some well composed chat could do better, but it would take some cleverness to compose revealing questions.

A chat may be good, but sometimes the manner in which the chat is administered can be effective too.

My kids will rat eachother out after learning I am displeased about something they did. Often a well phrased question and the accompanying death stare is all that is needed to get them to sing like birds. They can't stop themselves because they're not sure what I know or don't know.

I realize the death stare will not work on everyone, but the stress of the situation can cause your body to send out signals to the interrogator. 50% of what goes on in your mind is exhibited through body language. Avoiding eye contact, jittery legs, drumming your fingers, these are all signals that you may be hiding something. An observant interrogator will pick up on these signals and poke around a little bit. No worries if you've got nothing to hide.

You're also forgetting that we're in the US. The screams about profiling will come shortly after after the chatting begins.

We forbid ourselves from using techniques that work.

Feelings have become the single most important thing here.

Profiling is an excellent tool and the only way to go - except for the loony left is so against them.

Nothing I hate worse than that feeling (I imagine) you get when crashing into the ground at 600 miles per hour.

i think the question should be whether either is a violation of our constitutional rights.

Unless someone gave you a special constitutional 'right to fly' there is no way it violates any constitutional right.

Constitutional rights my aching butt! Stay home.

Exactly. And what of the rights of the private carrier to protect their property and their legal obligation to protect the people they carry? You can bet that the people who would be first to engage a lawyer over their constitutional rights would also be the first ones to sue for negligence if they lost a family member. It just makes no sense.