Tourist's warning after going through airport security with 'sweaty crotch' and spotting camera

Flying is stressful enough. Add unnecessarily hot weather to the mix, and, being a nervous flyer plus a public groin search, it's chaos. According to travellers online, if you’re even slightly sweaty, especially down there, airport body scanners might just flag it.

One tourist took to Reddit to share their baffling experience after being stopped for a pat-down in the same spot, not once, but twice, while going through a US Transport Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint, UNILAD reports.

They wrote that they were a “5'8", 169lbs, midsized adult woman”, and explained: “My crotch was flagged twice.” They added that they were wearing “bike shorts and normal underwear”.

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Another Redditor asked what many were probably thinking: “Were you sweating?” The woman replied honestly: "Probably a little, I'm terrified of flying, so I was nervous."

While she wasn’t offended by the pat-down, she couldn’t help but wonder why she was targeted and her wife wasn’t.

And she’s far from alone. One man shared a similar saga online after noticing his “sensitive area” kept setting off the scanner no matter what he wore. He tested everything from double-knee trousers to pyjama bottoms in an attempt to get through unnoticed. Still, no luck, he was patted down every time.

Eventually, someone in the thread offered what seemed like the most plausible explanation.

“I've flown a lot over the last few years. I'm a bigger guy, and I've had that problem. My unscientific testing has told me the following. If I'm sweaty, I'm getting a pat down. The machine triggers on sweat, especially in the lower back and private areas.”

Apparently, sweat can create odd shadows on the scanner image, and that’s when TSA officers step in.

The seasoned flyer continued: “Boxer briefs over boxers, the boys need to be high and tight. Pants material doesn't make too much of a difference. What does is sag. When you get in the machine, pull your pants as high up as you can. Sagging pants make a shadow or something, and it guarantees a pat down.”

And if you’re thinking this is all a bit much, they did offer one final word of reassurance: “The last thing is to be patient. They don't want to search you down there any more than you want to be searched, but sometimes it's just going to happen."

So, if you’re heading on holiday and find yourself sweating buckets in the airport queue, maybe give those clingy trousers a miss. Or at least hoik them up properly before the scanner. And definitely don’t leave the fan at home to keep yourself cool, or you could be facing a sweaty pat down.

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