People can't believe what airport security were able to see when passengers walked through X-Ray machine

When you’re cramming a week’s worth of clothes into the smallest bag possible for the airplane, you might be wondering what security are going to be able to see on the scanners.

And God forbid they ask you to unpack it to search through.

But it’s what the security team at airports were once able to see when passengers themselves were scanned that’s left people baffled.

Yeah, it’s awkward enough nowadays standing in between those weird walls trying to match the shape of the figure like some kind of competition show, but the infamous Rapiscan X-ray scanners were arguably way worse.

The tech was rolled out in airports back in the early 2010s and caused a air bit of controversy over the unprecedented level of detail.

These scanners were said to be brought in by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the US following the 2009 Christmas Day bombing attempt.

At a reported cost of $180,000 per machine, 174 of them were installed in 30 airports across the states.

Nicknamed ‘virtual strip searches’, critics were quick to slam the intrusive nature of the images, which showed everything from body shape to, well, personal anatomy. Social media exploded as shocked flyers shared their disbelief.

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One commenter at the time quipped, "I'll just drive everywhere, thanks." Another labelled the scanners as 'security theatre', while someone joked: "This is airport security, not OnlyFans."

Backlash reached tipping point in 2013 when the TSA was forced to remove the machines due to their inability to meet privacy standards.

Specifically, the scanners couldn't integrate Automated Target Recognition (ATR) software, which would have created generic, less intrusive outlines instead of detailed body images.

As a result, they were replaced with millimetre wave scanners that are still in use today.

Some felt the scanners were an invasion of privacy. (CNN via Getty Images)

Unlike their predecessors, the new scanners don't reveal a passenger's unique body image, instead relying on non-intrusive, generic outlines to flag potential threats. Shawna Malvini Redden, a researcher and author of 101 Pat-Downs, explained to Reader's Digest: "Early versions of the scanners came out without any privacy protections. Now, machines generate generic images instead of the passenger's unique image."

For many travellers who missed this moment in airport history, discovering what the old scanners showed up has been a real shock.

"I thought X-ray meant you could only see bones," wrote one stunned X user.

Another joked: "Guess I'll be tucking my junk text time, just in case."