Are you concerned that the airport scanners may see your piercings? Many people have piercings in their lobes and other places on their bodies. However, not everyone wishes to disclose the exact location of all their piercings. In this case, you may wonder if airport scanners can see your piercings and what happens if they do.
Airport scanners rarely detect piercings when you go through them. This is because an airport scanner only detects certain metals, and high-quality piercings are rarely made from these metals. However, if the airport scanner does detect your piercing, you will be pulled aside for further inspection with a handheld scanner.
Do Airport Scanners See Piercings?
It is rare for a piercing or piercings to set off airport scanners. This is because airport scanners detect the magnetic fields emitted by certain metals like steel. This way, an airport scanner can see guns, knives, and other potentially dangerous metals.
However, piercing jewelry is usually made from titanium, surgical steel, or precious metals like gold and silver. These metals don’t emit the same magnetic frequencies and are usually left undetected by the airport scanner. The security scanner may detect the piercing if your jewelry is made from a magnetic metal.
Do Handheld Scanners See Piercings?
Suppose your piercings are made from a magnetic metal, and it does set off the security scanner. In that case, you will be pulled aside for closer inspection. This is usually done with a handheld scanner. Handheld scanners are set to detect finer magnetic fields than the large, walk-through ones.
Therefore, it is more likely for a handheld scanner to detect your piercing. But even if handheld scanners can detect weaker magnetic fields, they will still not detect metals like silver, gold, surgical steel, or titanium. So if your jewelry is made from these metals, a handheld scanner is unlikely to detect them.
What Piercings Does An Airport Scanner See?
As mentioned, airport scanners only detect magnetic metals. They are unlikely to detect a piercing made of other metals, like titanium or surgical steel. If you are unsure what your piercing jewelry is made of, you can rest assured that it is most likely one of these metals. Only really cheap jewelry is sometimes made from magnetic metals.
Therefore, the chances of the airport scanner detecting your piercings are slim. However, the more piercings you have in one area, the more likely the scanners will detect them. So, if you have multiple piercings as many people have in their ears, it may set off the airport scanners.
What If Your Piercings Sets Off An Alarm At The Airport?
If your piercings happen to set off security alarms at the airport, you will be pulled aside for further inspection. In this case, you should tell the security officers of your piercings, and they will rule them out as part of the cause. They may ask you to show them your piercings, which you can do in public or private.
If you have discreet piercings, like nipple or genital piercings, you can ask to be taken to a private room or request a pat down instead. Alternatively, the security officers will use a handheld scanner to see where the problem is. If your piercings are causing the scanners to go off, the security officer may ask you to remove them.
However, you likely don’t have to remove your piercings unless the jewelry is large and spiky, as piercings aren’t considered dangerous. Therefore, if the security officer determines that your piercings cause the alarms, you will likely be free to go.
Should You Remove Your Piercings At The Airport?
While you don’t have to remove your piercings at the airport, you may do so if you worry that the piercings will set off the security scanners. In addition, you should remove any piercings with spiky edges that may be considered dangerous. Apart from these piercings, you aren’t required to remove any jewelry.
It’s also not recommended that you remove any piercings that are still healing. Removing these may cause infection, or the hole could close up while the jewelry is out on your trip. In the rare case that your new piercing sets off the security alarms, you should opt for a pat down rather than remove the jewelry.
Can You Wear Piercings When Flying?
In addition to wearing piercings while going through airport security, you can also rest assured that your piercings are allowed on any flight. There aren’t any rules regarding wearing piercings on flights, provided they don’t promote hate speech or discrimination. Apart from this, you may wear whatever piercings you like on the plane.
However, it’s best to leave any flashy piercing jewelry for when you arrive home, especially if it can become uncomfortable during a long flight or may make other passengers uncomfortable. For example, cover your nipple piercings or other intimate piercings during a flight to prevent complaints and issues.
Is It Dangerous To Wear Piercings At The Airport?
There isn’t any real danger of wearing piercings at airports. Piercings aren’t considered dangerous items and therefore don’t threaten anyone. Although sharp-edged piercings may be prohibited, regular piercings won’t do any harm. However, there have been incidents of people being treated poorly by airline security when showing their piercings.
If you are worried about this happening, it may be best to remove the piercings before going to the airport. However, for the most part, you shouldn’t have any problems at the airport or airport security while wearing your piercings. They aren’t dangerous, and there is no reason for airport security officers to suspect them of being so.
How Many Piercings May You Wear At The Airport?
There isn’t a restriction on how many piercings you may wear at an airport. Instead, only the type of piercings matters. And this is only if the piercings are huge and pointy. Apart from that, you don’t have to worry about being told that you have too many piercings at the airport or when going through security.
However, the more piercings you have, the higher the chances of the airport security scanners detecting them and you having to step out of line for additional inspection. Still, even if you have multiple piercings, it is unlikely that the security scanners will detect them unless they are made of magnetic metals.
Will Airport Security Do A Pat Down If You Have Piercings?
Suppose your piercings set off the security scanners at an airport. In that case, the security officers will ask you to step aside, so they can do a further inspection. In this case, you should tell the security officer about your piercings.
They will likely give you a choice between showing them a piercing or letting them do a pat down. Of course, suppose your piercings are more intimate. In that case, you can ask for a security officer of your gender when showing them the piercing in a private room.
If not, you can show the security officers while outside or ask for a private room in any case. You must undergo a pat down if you don’t want to show them your piercings.
