New pat-down procedure may leave some feeling uncomfortable

(WTNH) - As if there weren't enough headaches to deal with when you have to catch a flight, now you might get a little uncomfortable once you're at the airport with the new security pat-downs.

It's a new kind of 'assume the position', and it's all in the seemingly endless attempt to provide another layer of security to airline passengers.

The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA , wants to you feel comfortable that security is top notch at the nations airports, and to do that, they want to feel you.

Pat-downs as they're called are designed to help detect hidden and dangerous items such as explosives, according to the TSA. And in the coming weeks new pat-down procedures are going to be implemented for many in time for the holiday travel rush.

"They way you used to pat down a passenger in the airport was with the back of the hands," said Charles Slepian of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center. "Now we've switched it to the front of the hand, and you go down the body, up to the breast portion and if it's a female passenger you're going to see if there's anything in the bra."

But when is a pat down a put-down? Some travelers have already voiced complaints with the TSA for the pat-downs being too intrusive, and they say there are no signs or information detailing the new touchy-feeley security plans.

For now, the pat-downs aren't going anywhere. In a statement the TSA said "pat-down procedures are used to resolve alarms that occur at a walk through metal detector, if an anomaly is detected during screening with advanced imaging technology or during random screening."