ILM gears up for holiday travel

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Airports will be bustling with Thanksgiving travelers this week and new security screenings which include pat-downs are grabbing the attention of travelers nationwide.

Traveling on Thanksgiving is a task in itself.

“If you go in with the right attitude that you’re there, it’s a special time of year and you’re there to spend time with family then it’s really not that bad at all,” said Joseph Quigley, who is flying to Boston for Thanksgiving. “So we get there when we get there and we’re fine.”

Full body screening and pat-downs have sparked controversy and it has many travelers upset. Some travelers say it’s about time the Transportation Security Administration kicked security up a notch.

“You never know who can have a bomb on them and I think for security reasons they should do it,” said Mario Pinierio. “It’s going to take a little bit longer but so what? When I get up in that airplane I want to make sure I’m safe.”

Some of the larger airports in the United States are anticipating protests against the full body screening and pat-downs sometime this week.

“It’s absolutely essential for the pat-down or getting into that new scanner they have that shows the whole body because Boston Logan Airport has it and last time I traveled on a plane that’s what I went through,” said Panierio. “It didn’t bother me at all. You just walk in, stand up, they look at it and then they say go.”

It was a very quiet Sunday at ILM. Airport officials don’t anticipate heightened security for Thanksgiving but do expect it to be very busy. Most travelers say they don’t mind the extra wait time as long as they know they’re safely headed to their destination of choice.

“It is the time we live in and I think it needs to be done,” said Quigley. “I think we talk about safety and we want safety but then we complain about it.”

The full-body scanners show a traveler’s physical contours on a computer. Some travelers say the scanners and pat-downs make them feel violated.