I got frisked at the airport last year. I am a dangerous looking terrorist type, you know, five foot three, gray haired granny, late sixties, scary looking. The black woman who frisked me felt the plastic clip I had on my waist band for my phone and she almost screamed in fright. She must have thought I had a gun in my waist band. She had been so scared by whoever trained her she was a nervous wreck. She did not belong in that job.
Travel all the time and I do fit the physical profile. In my twenties, 6 foot one, five clock shadow, traveling alone. I have never gotten searched, frisked, anything. If I set off the alarm in the walk through scanner I get a nice smile and told to empty my pockets when I’ve seen everyone else from old ladies to businessmen to those who look like they just don’t fly that often be told in sterner voices to step aside. I’m not sure about the TSA manual but if anything it tells them to treat fellas like me with extra finesse. Not that I mind.