Tight-fitting clothes 'in' at DIA

Snugger attire advised if passengers want to avoid security line pat-downs

Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 22, 2005 at midnight

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Tight sweaters and tight jeans are suddenly fashionable when it comes to flying.

Starting today, airport security screeners are boosting the number of random pat-downs they conduct as they beef up efforts to spot potential suicide bombers and other terrorists. But you can cut your chance of being hand-searched by wearing clothes that can't possibly hide a bomb.

That advice comes from Patrick Ahlstrom, Transportation Security Administration chief at Denver International Airport.

Ahlstrom said his screeners won't need to do pat-downs as much on people who are obviously not hiding anything, as opposed to a person wearing "voluminous" clothing that could conceal explosives.

Coats come off in any case, he added.

Ahlstrom said screeners will scan with wands and pat down travelers more often and more thoroughly because of the increasing use of bombs by terrorists around the world. He cited a pair of Russian plane crashes last year that were blamed on two Chechen women who boarded the aircraft wearing bomb belts under their clothes.

Asked if there is any specific reason to think terrorists are trying to plant bombs on American jets, Ahlstrom said, "There's no new intelligence to indicate a particular immediate threat of any kind."

Also starting today, the TSA is loosening its restrictions on scissors with less than a 4-inch blade, so screeners can spend less time rummaging for such items and more time on pat-downs, he said. Screwdrivers, pliers and some other tools less than 7 inches long also will be allowed.

TSA chief Kip Hawley has said that one-fourth of the 30 million items confiscated by the TSA since 2002 fit in this category.

The Association of Flight Attendants strongly disagrees with the TSA's claim that such items are low-risk.

AFA chief Patricia Friend testified before Congress earlier this month that the change "will further endanger the lives of all flight attendants and the passengers we work so hard to keep safe and secure."

All knives are still prohibited.

Dealing with screeners

• Don't wear baggy clothes that could conceal a bomb.

• If you are chosen for a pat-down, the screener is supposed to be of the same gender, except in extraordinary circumstances.

• You may ask to be patted down or scanned by a wand in private.

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