Full-body Scan | featured news

The nation's controversial airport pat-downs and full-body scanners are here to stay, at least for now.

Millions of Americans took to the skies on Wednesday for the start of the Thanksgiving holiday amid protests by some travelers about heightened security procedures.

U.S. homeland security officials have no plans to back away from air passenger security patdowns despite a traveler uproar that they violate privacy rights and growing concerns in Congress over the policy.

The Transportation Security Administration will let uniformed airline pilots skip the body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints.

Pilots' unions for US Airways and American Airlines are urging their members to avoid full-body scanning at airport security checkpoints, citing health risks and concerns about intrusiveness and security officer behavior.

A pilot who refused to submit to a full-body scan or the alternative pat down going through airport security said the procedures violate his rights.

Air travelers from Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and nine other countries will face full-body pat downs before boarding airliners under new security screening procedures targeting foreign passengers announced by the United States on Sunday.

All passengers flying to the United States from Amsterdam will get full-body scans because of the attempted Christmas Day terror attack on a U.S.-bound plane.