What kind of person leaves his ID at home when he leaves for a flight? Because I'm now one of those people. Apparently during my wallet shuffle the night before my flight, my drivers license escaped and hid.
All's well - they made me a selectee, which means I got the opportunity for more security screening, which involved the following:
- a booth that shot bursts of air through my clothes
- every item on me was swabbed with terror wipes
And that's it. At first, I thought the air machine was supposed to simulate a pat-down, though the woman who put me through it looked the other way while it was going on, so I hope that's can't be right. Lori says that machine, after puffing air at me, analyzes that air for explosives residue, which sounds a bit more plausible.
A little bit of research on the internet tells us that:
A passenger steps into the device and stands still for a few seconds. The device releases several bursts of air. That lets loose microscopic particles on the skin and clothing, which are analyzed for any residue from explosives. The screening takes about 15 seconds.
GE's page about the EntryScan3 has more information.
I'm glad I don't work with explosives for a living. That'd be hard to explain. I wonder if you have to have a note from your boss.
So the lesson I take from this is that it's possible, and in fact easy, to fly without an ID. In fact, it might even be faster, because I was funneled past the standard security lines into my own special line where I was the only person.