Personally, I won't be flying unless absolutely necessary. Even before this, I was always reluctant to fly because of:
- Uncomfortable seats. I'm 6'4" with a big frame. My shoulders and legs don't fit in your typical airline seat space.
- Having to get to the airport so early, even for a domestic flight. You can't check baggage unless you get there 45 minutes before your flight. I've missed a flight by 2 minutes because of traffic and this rule on a work day when I couldn't possibly leave earlier or schedule a later flight. Most places recommend you get there 60-90 minutes early (sometimes up to 2 hours early) for a domestic flight with baggage. This means I have to leave about 3.5 hours before my flight.
- Security screens that clearly miss the mark, since people keep getting weapons/bombs onto planes. If I'm wasting my time and giving up my privacy, it should at least be effective. You've all hear the old Ben Franklin quote about freedom and security. Even worse, we're giving up freedom (of privacy and time) for no real security.
- Ever increasing fees. It's never been especially cheap to fly, but it's only getting worse. I know that airlines have to make money, but you'd think they could cut costs with a reduced TSA.
- Carry on item limitations. Rough baggage handling caused my toiletry bottles to explode on my honeymoon flight. Red body wash all over clothes.
- Other passengers. It seems like a lot of people don't know how to act in public. This is exacerbated by close quarters.
So put all of this together, and I already didn't enjoy flying. I really only flew if work made me or if I couldn't drive there in a day. Now we have 2 equally unpalatable options.
- Full body scan. I know that the radiation is claimed safe for the general passenger. They could be wrong or you could be in some small percentile of people that it will affect. If you're a very frequent flier or a pilot, you might even go over the safe yearly limit. I've heard 1000 scans, but my guess is that doesn't take into account all of the other ionizing radiation sources you encounter in a typical year. Next you have the privacy issues. I would assume that most people are fairly modest and wouldn't completely disrobe in a private room for a random person that told them they had to. Some argue that the data is anonymous or that the pictures won't be stored. We've already seen news reports of both of those claims being disproved. You also have the issue of minors being scanned. How long do you think it'll be until some of these anonymous, non-stored images show up on the internet?
- Enhanced patdown. I don't know that I need to explain this. From what I've read, this isn't your standard patdown where they lightly run their hands across your arms, legs, and torso. Personally, I will not be comfortable with someone touching me in the ways I've read. Then you've got children who have to go through this as well.
So what does this mean? I won't be flying anywhere. It's actually faster for me to drive anywhere within probably 8 hours or so, given the need to leave 3+ hours before my flight and then deal with baggage and a rental car at my destination. For destinations over 8 hours, I'll either skip that trip or make it a road trip with an overnight stop or two. I'll gladly trade my time for comfort and privacy, and I'll probably enjoy the things I see during the drive much more than the flight.