Extreme Measures: Alaska Lawmaker Returns Home By Sea After Refusing TSA Pat Down

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Full-body scanners caused their fair share of controversy this past holiday season. But for one Alaskan state representative, even a traditional pat-down was too much.

State Rep. Sharon Cissna will return to Juneau by ferry after declining to undergo a pat-down at a Seattle airport. Michelle Scannell, Cissna’s chief of staff, said that the TSA called for the pat-down because scanners showed Cissna had had a mastectomy. Scannell called the search “intrusive” but didn’t explicitly say why the lawmaker — who had already walked through a body scanner — would not participate.

When contacted by the Associated Press, the TSA issued a general statement that they are “sensitive to the concerns of passengers who were not satisfied with their screening experience.” Whatever Cissna’s reason for declining to fly, we can only imagine it was worthy enough of enduring the 1,000 mile + journey to Juneau by sea. (via AP)

(More on TIME.com: See 20 reasons to hate airlines)