No no.. not the same at all. I pass through the security checkpoints with no problems -- no metal to set off detectors.

It's when I try to actually board the plane that I get pulled aside, 100% of the time. Actually, it really happens at check-in -- my boarding card gets flagged with some kind of special marking indicating that I must be hand-checked.

A bloody nuisance when trying to catch a tight connection in, say, Chicago -- I get searched on boarding my first flight to ORD, and then again as I try to board my connection in ORD. Same thing on the return flights a few days later.

100%. Not just a few flights in a row, but 28 (and counting.. 8 more next month).

Stupid bloody buggers. They could be searching somebody else, instead of wasting their time on me four times a week.

-ml