A few weeks ago, I posted my experience of having a mostly used-up tube of sunscreen confiscated because a Transportation Security Agency screener said that a 100-milliliter container is the limit for a carry-on item, not the 110 ML I had with me -- even though there was nowhere near 110 ML of lotion in it. That was only irritating. My more recent experience was amusing, astonishing or horrifying, depending on how you view the entire process of airport security.
Early on Thursday afternoon, I checked in at the Great Lakes Aviation counter at Denver International Airport for a flight to Telluride. I didn't really look at my boarding pass, and neither, evidently, did the TSA agent charged with comparing
boarding passes with picture IDs. Because of heavy regional snow, I was eventually switched from the cancelled Telluride flight to one going to Cortez. In the process of changing flights, one of the several podium agents who looked at my original boarding pass finally noticed something odd and asked, "Who is Christopher Weber?" I had no idea who he was other than being an alphabetic neighbor, coincidentally with the same initials. Mostly, I was astonished that I had passed TSA's so-called security procedures and a couple of gate agents before anyone noticed that I could not possibly be Christopher Weber.After that DIA underperformance, the screeners at Telluride Regional Airport (TEX, right), from which I flew yesterday, made up for it with excessive zeal. At this time of year, the only commercial service is Great Lakes' two daily flights using 19-passenger Beech 1800 aircraft. Four (4) TSA screeners were on duty for a daily passenger count that cannot possibly exceed 38. Of the 11 or 12 of us on my flight, three of us were "selected" for extra screening. Our checked bags were opened and riffled through, as were our carry-ons. Many items removed from our luggage were swabbed for explosives or some other lethal substance. We were all patted down. I guess that quartet had to justify their underworked existence at TEX at this time of year.
After we were all cleared and were waiting to board the Denver-bound flight, I started telling someone about the Christopher Weber mix-up at DIA. A fellow sitting within earshot said, "Was that on Thursday? I'm Christopher Weber, and when I got to the airport, Great Lakes told me that I had already checked in."
Posts
You should of said "Read It and Weep."
ReplyDeleteI received the following direct messaage from The Cranky Flier (http://crankyflier.com), who saw my post via RSS feed:
ReplyDelete"Hey Claire - That is pretty
ridiculous. I do wonder how you ended up with that boarding pass,
maybe it just saw the W and clicked the wrong one? So weird. But yes, the TSA should definitely have caught it. *sigh*"
My response to Cranky, who gave me permission to quote him, was:
"Great Lakes is still pretty low-tech. They hand-write some of
their baggage tags, and their passenger lists are print-outs where they cross off names. So I'm sure you're right about how/why the boarding pass was initially issued. Christopher Weber came right after Claire Walter on Great Lakes' list. However, I think the rest is just indicative of the whole TSA way of operating. They can dress up their screeners in natty blue cop-look shirts, but that's no guarantee that they will notice that the names on the boarding pass and the driver's license are not the same, or that I couldn't be anyone whos first name is 'Chistopher.'"
I met a pilot who called the TSA "Thousands Standing Around."
ReplyDeleteTerminally Stupid Agency and that's the polite word for the A-word.
ReplyDeleteMontauk Island Hotels - Yours is a worse story than mine, because yours involved a $250 pen that you fortunately got back. As for Osama bin Laden getting through the screening, he and his horse might, but if he had a tube or toothpaste over 3 oounces (100ML), the TSA screeners would certainly confiscate that!
ReplyDeleteMontauk Island Hotels -- An item went missing at Houston International last week. I reemoved my watch and put it and my pedometer into an upside down cowboy hat (convention souvenir) and placed the hat in a plastic bin to go through the X-ray machine. As I waited behind the metal detector while TSA agents patted down and wanded two young men in front ot me, I could see someone (I think another TSA agent). When I finally got through the metal detector and retrieved my things, only the pedometer was in the hat. My watch was missing.I reported it right away, and the agents made a big show of peering into the X-ray machine tunnel and on the floor, where it was unlikely to have ended up. I did report it online. A TSA investigator phoned the next day for more details so they could find me when they looked at the surveillance tapes, but I have another form to fill out, but I have no expectation of ever getting it back
ReplyDelete