(reuters)
TSA Protest Craps Out

An internet "Don't Touch My Junk" campaign encouraging Thanksgiving travellers to refuse airport full body searches appeared to fizzle out on Wednesday amid a charm offensive from security officials.

"The agents all wished me Happy Holidays. They must have gotten some directive to be friendlier," said Benjamin Billips, 30, of Bartlett, Illinois, who travelled from New York to Chicago.

"All of the TSA employees were nice," said Hannah Kimmel, a law student in Chicago travelling to Minnesota from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, said of the Transportation Security Administration staff.

Many passengers arrived at airports expecting an ordeal after media and internet horror stories of aggressive patdowns, surly security officials and argumentative passengers.

Media attention to the patdowns surged after a widely viewed YouTube video captured audio of a California man, John Tyner, telling a security official during a full body search: "If you touch my junk I'm going to have you arrested..."

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