millimeter-wave full body scanning at Toronto Pearson airport
Security on flights to the US has increased a lot since the last time I flew out of Pearson. According to The Star the first full-body scanner arrived in January, and today the CATSA screeners were directing all the passengers first through the metal detectors and then through the full-body scanners. I opted for a physical pat-down instead.
Additionally, the screeners at the carry-on belt were wanding every single carry-on bag with the explosive detector device. Each of my two bags were opened and wanded, my laptop was wanded, my bag of liquids was opened and wanded, and the one unmarked nalgene bottle in there was separately wanded. All this resulted in a screening process that was definitely slower than the last time I flew to the US from Pearson. Also when I used NEXUS I got sent to the secondary screening room because, as the Customs agent told me, a guy who shares my birthday had a warrant in the system. No idea why the biometric NEXUS ID was insufficient to establish that I'm not the guy with the arrest warrant.
Additionally, the screeners at the carry-on belt were wanding every single carry-on bag with the explosive detector device. Each of my two bags were opened and wanded, my laptop was wanded, my bag of liquids was opened and wanded, and the one unmarked nalgene bottle in there was separately wanded. All this resulted in a screening process that was definitely slower than the last time I flew to the US from Pearson. Also when I used NEXUS I got sent to the secondary screening room because, as the Customs agent told me, a guy who shares my birthday had a warrant in the system. No idea why the biometric NEXUS ID was insufficient to establish that I'm not the guy with the arrest warrant.