16 hours ago
Travel expert warns about bodily function that can set off airport scanners after passenger is stopped by TSA
No one enjoys being stopped by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) when they're trying to catch a flight, and it can be even worse when it's for a humiliating reason.
A plane passenger recently sparked a debate about whether or not one particularly embarrassing bodily function can set off security scanners after they shared an awkward incident that occurred while they were at the airport via Reddit.
The traveler explained that their 'crotch' area had been 'flagged' while they were going through the security scanner and that they had no idea why.
And many users wondered if it was due to excessive sweating in their pants.
'I flew for the first time in 15 years this week and both airports flagged my crotch at the arms-up scanner,' the traveler explained in their now-viral Reddit post.
'I don't care about the pat down, they were polite and professional and it doesn't bother me, but I'm wondering what did it.
'I'm a midsize adult woman (169 pounds, five-foot-eight-inches) and was wearing bike shorts and normal underwear.
'I don't have any medical devices or piercings, but I do have a uterine fibroid. Nothing was in my pockets.
'Any thoughts on what could have set it off? I read that fibroids could possibly alert, and it was the exact same spot on my groin both times. More just curious than anything else, it made my wife and I laugh.'
People quickly responded to the post and many theorized that crotch sweat was the reason the person was stopped.
'Could be: clothes (baggy, etc.), sweat, position (not on footprints, too wide or too narrow), zipper, too many layers, reflective stuff, ghosts, etc.,' one person wrote.
'Were you sweating?' someone else questioned.
'Sweat, feminine products (liners, pads, depends), could be anything but those seem to be culprits,' another added.
A different user shared: 'Last time I flew out of my home airport of Tampa, I got searched too, the guard said something unnerving like "swamp rot" or "swamp crotch" or something similarly embarrassing.'
Shawna Malvini Redden, a TSA expert, said sweat is one of those unique things that can indeed set off the scanner's alarm.
'Perspiration is probably the weirdest thing that can set off the scanners,' she previously detailed to Reader's Digest.
'It has to do with millimeter wave technology and how the waves bounce off water.'
The expert also said that since the machines can often set off false alarms, countries such as France and Germany have banned them.
It's more than just sweat that can have you stopped, in fact, there's a slew of body features that might set off the airport scanner.
Thick hair, hair clips, piercings, wire in undergarments, and external tumors may also raise alarm.
However, no need to worry. If something on your body sets off the scanner, normally, it will only require a quick pat-down and you'll be good to go.
The scanners debuted after 9/11 and boasted that they were so efficient they could see the sweat on someone's back, according to ProPublica.
Trained offers learned to recognize normal sweat patterns so they could detect a threat, Kip Hawley, TSA administrator from 2005 to 2009 said per the outlet.
She said sweat actually helps officers detect a threat because if something had something glued or taped to the body it would change a person's natural sweat pattern.
