Hey! Mr. Big Shot! (Part 2)
Part 2 of 3
The problems started when I checked in at Nashville. The automatic kiosk told me I had to check in at the counter. Never a good sign.
I checked in at the counter and was told by a very nice American Airlines ticket agent that she could “see” my reservation for the United Express flight from LAX to Palm Springs, but couldn’t ticket it. She would ticket the AA segment, but I would have to go to the United counter to get the next piece.
No prob. I was early so I walked to United and as I was explaining the American agent’s problem she produced a ticket for United Express from LAX to PSP leaving Los Angeles at 10:30 pm arriving Palm Springs at about 11:30. Pacific Time.
I thanked her, went through security, got the Marsha Blackburn stuff and went aboard the American flight (on which I had been upgraded to first class because I am a Gold frequent flier on American as reward for being a Million Miler as I am on Delta, as well).
The flight left at 6:30 Central and arrived at 8:30 Pacific – meaning my body which had been awake since 4:15 Eastern was beginning to creak just a little.
The terminal from which United flights leave at LAX is Terminal 7. American flights arrive at Terminal 4. It is a hike – not a forever trip, but at midnight body time, long enough.
The hike is, of course, outside security. You would think that in the six years since 9/11 major airports would have figured out how to keep travelers inside the clean area but … they have not.
I pulled out my United boarding pass and saw, for the first time, that it had the dreaded “SSSS” code meaning I would be “selected” for additional screening.
Drat.
Ok. I have a rule about this which I try to follow all the time: (a) Take a deep breath, (b) go into Alpha-wave mode (if there is such a mode), (c) be in good humor, and (d) leave plenty of time so (a), (b), and (c) are do-able.
My mantra is: If this is the worst thing that happens today, it will be a fine day.
Sure enough, I was “selected” to go into the area reserved for Gitmo escapees and people with “SSSS” on their boarding pass.
The additional screening is more-or-less a sham: Some guy patted me down to make certain I hadn’t accidentally left my 9mm Beretta in my front pants pocket. Then a very nice lady opened my backpack and ran a piece of cloth around the inside; put the cloth inside a machine which told her, apparently, that there was no explosive residue. She repeated the test on my roll-aboard and found it similarly benign but not before announcing – quite loudly, I thought – “This is the neatest packing job I’ve every seen!”
Yikes. There goes my reputation among TSA agents worldwide for being a devil-may-care throw-it-in-the-bag and let’s go packer.
I put it down to having been married for nearly 35 years and pushed on to the gate.
The problems started when I checked in at Nashville. The automatic kiosk told me I had to check in at the counter. Never a good sign.
I checked in at the counter and was told by a very nice American Airlines ticket agent that she could “see” my reservation for the United Express flight from LAX to Palm Springs, but couldn’t ticket it. She would ticket the AA segment, but I would have to go to the United counter to get the next piece.
No prob. I was early so I walked to United and as I was explaining the American agent’s problem she produced a ticket for United Express from LAX to PSP leaving Los Angeles at 10:30 pm arriving Palm Springs at about 11:30. Pacific Time.
I thanked her, went through security, got the Marsha Blackburn stuff and went aboard the American flight (on which I had been upgraded to first class because I am a Gold frequent flier on American as reward for being a Million Miler as I am on Delta, as well).
The flight left at 6:30 Central and arrived at 8:30 Pacific – meaning my body which had been awake since 4:15 Eastern was beginning to creak just a little.
The terminal from which United flights leave at LAX is Terminal 7. American flights arrive at Terminal 4. It is a hike – not a forever trip, but at midnight body time, long enough.
The hike is, of course, outside security. You would think that in the six years since 9/11 major airports would have figured out how to keep travelers inside the clean area but … they have not.
I pulled out my United boarding pass and saw, for the first time, that it had the dreaded “SSSS” code meaning I would be “selected” for additional screening.
Drat.
Ok. I have a rule about this which I try to follow all the time: (a) Take a deep breath, (b) go into Alpha-wave mode (if there is such a mode), (c) be in good humor, and (d) leave plenty of time so (a), (b), and (c) are do-able.
My mantra is: If this is the worst thing that happens today, it will be a fine day.
Sure enough, I was “selected” to go into the area reserved for Gitmo escapees and people with “SSSS” on their boarding pass.
The additional screening is more-or-less a sham: Some guy patted me down to make certain I hadn’t accidentally left my 9mm Beretta in my front pants pocket. Then a very nice lady opened my backpack and ran a piece of cloth around the inside; put the cloth inside a machine which told her, apparently, that there was no explosive residue. She repeated the test on my roll-aboard and found it similarly benign but not before announcing – quite loudly, I thought – “This is the neatest packing job I’ve every seen!”
Yikes. There goes my reputation among TSA agents worldwide for being a devil-may-care throw-it-in-the-bag and let’s go packer.
I put it down to having been married for nearly 35 years and pushed on to the gate.
3 Comments:
Hey, will your candidate pledge not to have a security system where it says on your ticket if you're going to be carefully checked or not?
Mr. Galen, You were the best speaker at the Campaign Management School for the NFRW....if we had known how much trouble you had reaching Palm Springs we might have listened more intently.,...
Did the Campaign Management School program include the topic of spouses? What was your topic?
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