The introduction of full-body scanners in a number of airports has generated a lot of stir. Some of these airports see a lot of traffic with numerous airlines operating flights to and from these airports. Thousands of travellers who book their cheap flights from these airports have to undergo the full body scanning process. These scans make for a virtual strip search kind of experience with the difference that you don’t have shed your clothes. Instead, the scans generate nude images of the body, which can be seen by security officials.

Airports Using Full Body Scanners

Full body scanning in airports was first introduced by the Netherlands. Slowly many other countries adopted the practice. Travellers planning to book cheap holidays may be interested in having a look at some of the international airports where full body scanning has been implemented.

• Amsterdam-Schipol Airport (AMS)
• Gimhae/Busan International (PUS)
• Gimpo/Seoul International (GMP)
• Jeju International (CJU)
• London-Heathrow (LHR)
• Manchester Airport (MAN)
• Moscow-Sheremetyevo International (SVO)
• Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG)
• Rome-Leonardo da Vinci/Fiumicino (FCO)
• Toronto Pearson International (YYZ)
• Tokyo-Narita International (NRT)
• Vancouver International (YVR)

Pros and Cons of Full Body Scanners

The good part is that these machines save a lot of time. Imagine painstakingly booking cheap flight and missing on it just because airport security decides to put you through a real strip search when you had already arrived late at the airport after getting stuck on M25 motorway traffic jam. Such passengers may not be lucky to find any alternative cheap flights and may end up paying for last minute flights through their nose. However, a scanning machine will hardly take 15 seconds and you will not have to suffer the indignity of undressing for fulfilling some security requirement, leading to a missed flight. On the flip side, there are certain cons of full body scanners.

Child Scanning

If you have children under the age of 18 and are planning to take them on an overseas air travel, you should know that airport authorities who subject your minor kid to a full body scan could very well be violating child pornography laws of their countries.

Privacy

Body scanner protests mainly revolve around the issue of privacy. Besides creating nude images, scanning devices can also show embarrassing body parts such as artificial breasts and testicles, and medical equipment like catheters and colostomy bags.

Health Concerns

Certain authorities like International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Energy Agency have claimed some individuals including children and pregnant women may be at risk from the ionizing radiation of these scanners. Doubts over the safety of these scanners have also been raised in reference to the lack of long term studies concerning the health risks of these scanners. However, the health issue is quite debatable with certain other radiation safety authorities stating that they are unaware of evidence pointing towards the harmfulness of these scanners.

Much as the cons associated with these full body scanners out number the pros, many travellers may still be willing to look at the positive side related to security at the airports and in the flights. It is still far from clear if those transient passengers who so far had booked cheap tickets on connecting flights via these airports would opt for alternative connecting airports.

Article Source: sooperarticles.com/travel-articles/travel-leisure-articles/full-body-scanners-airports-overview-352302.html

About Author:

Shawn Trelly is associated with Cheap Tickets as expert writer since Five years.It is one of the common technologies of full body scanner used for body imaging, a competing technology is backscatter X-ray. Author: Shawn Trelly