Groups Plan Pre-Thanksgiving Airport Protests Over New Security Procedures

Rusty Surette, News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Long lines at the airport may be longer Wednesday all thanks to a Thanksgiving-eve boycott of security body scanners.

TSA agents have been called molesters and threatened with violence but the feds say the airport agents are just doing their jobs to keep people safe. But there's a portion of the population that sees it as something much different.

"It's really just getting retaliatory. It's not about safety anymore," said Oklahoma City resident Kirk Shelley, who is also a member of the nationwide group Campaign for Liberty. That group on Wednesday plans to dispatch members to four airports across the nation, including Tulsa's airport, to talk with travelers about those controversial enhanced pat downs.

"Flying is not a crime," said Shelley.

Members of Campaign for Justice who plan to fly will be wearing kilts with nothing underneath as a way to protest what they call invasive pat downs by TSA agents. They'll also be carrying an extra set of latex gloves and urging agents to dispose of their old ones.

"There are diseases that can be passed from person to person and TSA people are not changing gloves between each person they pat down," said Shelley.

A new poll by the Washington Post shows nearly half of all Americans support the pat-downs, and nearly two-thirds don't mind the full body scanners. Still, a group calling itself "We Won't Fly" is planning a nationwide boycott Wednesday. They're urging others to jam airport checkpoints by opting out of the 10-second body scan, instead insisting on a slower pat down.

And that's not the best news considering pre-Thanksgiving travel is expected to be up this year from last year. Those body scanners won't be at the Will Rogers World Airport until next year.