Interestingly, the other day I was perusing a catalogue from an airport services training provider.
It was quite interesting to see that to be qualified to pump the **** out of an aeroplane you needed to attend a one day course. Or you could take a half-day course and be a "security" agent.
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411,
The quite obvious answer for pax that can (due to their particular travel arrangements) avoid travel from/to/through any UK airport
Yep., that's exactly what I do.
Elsewhere, if addressed to by the x-ray operators or if anyone so much as touches my bag, I simply demand the presence of the police, as it's them who have been trained and (in most jurisdictions) have the authority to stop and search people. Curiously, the police have always been supportive in this situations.