COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- New screening procedures at airports have travelers wondering what to expect when they fly.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now conducting new enhanced pat downs at U.S. airports.
The pat downs are for people who opt out of the full-body imaging scans.
Some people said the intimate details of the scans are an invasion of privacy, and others don't like the invasive nature of the enhanced pat downs.
The Colorado Springs Airport does not have full body scanners, so the TSA said what travelers encounter at that airport will be different than at most other U.S. airports.
The head of the TSA acknowledges the new enhanced pat downs are more invasive, but he said they are needed to stop terrorists.
"I don't like the machine, the scan x-ray, because of cancer, especially someone who has to travel a lot," traveler Barb Alexander said.
Not all travelers will have to make that choice. Only those that repeatedly set off a metal detector or are randomly selected for extra screening will have to choose.
Two travelers at the Colorado Springs Airport who did get the full body scan before they got on the plane to come to the Springs said it is necessary.
"I don't mind it for its safety," traveler Chuck Lazetti said. "If it takes a couple extra minutes, I don't mind it."
Traveler Sandy Legate agrees.
"I don't have any objections to it," Legate said. "I really don't. You know flying is not a right, it's a privilege, and if it takes a little more to keep me safe from some other guy, I am perfectly comfortable with that."
She said for her the scan was the better option.
"I don't particularly want to get patted down, that's a different story, but the scan is fine. I don't really object to that," Legate said.
The Colorado Springs Airport doesn't have full body scanners so people leaving from here won't have to worry about it. But that also means if you repeatedly set off the metal detector or are randomly selected for extra screening, your only choice will be the enhanced pat down, which requires screeners to touch travelers' breasts or genitals.
"The pat down I'm not crazy about that either, I'm probably not gonna fly...maybe," Alexander said.
For people who plan to fly out of Denver ,the TSA said DIA does have full body scanners for people who prefer that over a pat down.