People horrified at reality of what airport security were able to see when you walked through X-Ray machine
People are shocked after discovering the reality of what airport security were able to see when you walked through their security scanner machines.
Getting through security at busy airports is always a massive headache, and the fear of missing your flight gets very real when there's seemingly not enough staff to cope with the workload.
Removing your laptop, power bank and liquids from your bag isn't the only time consuming part as going through the body-scanners takes an absolute age too.
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In a safety bid, the Transportation Security Administration introduced scanners that produced a full body image of the traveller.
The backscatter technology began rolling out in airports after the failed underwear bombing on Christmas Day 2009, where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab concealed plastic explosives in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Thankfully, he was restrained by passengers, who were also able to put out a fire started in his attempt to detonate the explosives.
However, the issue with these new body scanners was that they showed everything, and I mean everything.
A total of 174 scanners were reportedly in use in 30 US airports at the time and all of them displayed a full 'nude' X-Ray of each passenger.
And in the UK, the full-body scanners were in use at 10 of Britain's largest airports back in 2013.
The Rapiscan scanners - which cost $180,000 each - obviously caused a lot of controversy though as a number of people refused to go through the scanners, which was within their rights.
I mean this is airport security, not an OnlyFans account.
By June 2013, it seemed that TSA had no choice but to remove the tech from airports due to the backlash.
"Due to its inability to deploy non-imaging Automated Target Recognition (ATR) software by the Congressionally-mandated June 2013 deadline, TSA has terminated part of its contract with Rapiscan," the TSA said in a statement at the time.
"By June 2013 travelers will only see machines which have ATR that allow for faster throughput."
While TSA announced its move to the generic-imaging style, people on social media - who are only just finding out about the scanners now - are completely stunned.
"I honestly thought x-ray meant you can only see the bones." one person tweeted.
Another quipped: "Is this why I always get put aside?"
"Definitely tucking my junk next time through just to see if I get a reaction," a third joked.
"Imagine the TRAUMA the American TSA staff have to endure," a fourth said.
While a fifth said: "is this for real?"
Topics: Travel
Anish Vij