I travel a lot for work and have been patted down now a number of times in a number of airports. I was wondering if I could have the security personnel use the wand from the waist down and just pat above the waist? That might make the process quicker and less sensitive than the entire body pat down.

 

 

It's up to you. Theoretically, it's safe to use anywhere other than near our chest. Practically, I think it's faster to just get the pat down and be done with it, keep it simple! They could be done with the pat down in the time it would take to explain what you want them to do. And if they don't have the wand anywhere near me, there's no chance of accidentally getting it too close to my device. So, I'll just stick with the pat downs.

Do what you're comfortable with.

 

I think like anything, it's all about risk tolerance. They "say" that walking through the metal detector is safe for Pacemakers, but I'd just as soon not experiment. They "say" that the wand is okay to use, but a pat down does not take so long as to make me want to try either of the machines. But that's me. If you think the wand will truly speed things up and make it more comfortable for you, then give it a shot...

Good luck

 

How much time would a "partial wand" procedure save? 2O or 30 seconds? I was told not to get near a wand. I get the pat down and still make my flight.

 

I guess a couple of my real reasons are, even 20 to 30 seconds less will make me feel less of a freak.
Less "hands on" which kinda creeps me out
but thanks everyone for answering.

btw, what about sporting venues and entertainment locations that require metal detectors? How do you deal with them?

 

When I was at university we used to frequent a couple of clubs that had metal detectors (if you're from the UK you may remember Republic, later called Gatecrasher One and Bed). Anyway, getting in usually involved talking to the door staff who would vaguely look at my ID card and then actually lift up the detector arch (they are surprisingly light) and move it out of the way so I could walk through. They hardly ever had any female searchers so I generally didn't even get a pat down. The main problem was attracting their attention when they were behind the arch and it was noisy. My consultant gave me a letter to show them to say I could not go through the detector but I don't think I ever used it.

When I went to the Vatican City we queued for ages to get into St Peter's Basillica and when we got to the front of the queue found there were metal detectors but no-one to show my ID to or any other way of going through. I decided to risk going through and everything was fine (I didn't even set it off). I think it depends on how sensitive the detector is set, those that are set quite high (e.g. at airports and I think this has been increased due to the terrorism threats) generally have the "no pacemakers" sign on them (heart with a pacing wire and a line through). I think those that don't have this sign displayed are set to be less sensitive and are probably ok to go through. If there is no-one operating them they are probably switched off.

Hope this helps,
Morag