Hi folks, long time no diary.
I was inspired to write this - my first diary since the cat food scandal - after being through the wringer during a business trip this past week. I was one of the "lucky" people who was stranded this week thanks to massive incompetence on the part of American Airlines (who can officially go to Hades in my book) and mother nature (damn her and her rain!).
I only fly about once every 4-6 months, and it seems that the experience gets worse every single time. This week I was simply blown away by the inconsistency and incompetence displayed by TSA employees. But more importantly, my travelling companion inadvertently "smuggled" an illegal item onto one of our flights...
(warning: if you are one of those folks who's pretty little eyes can't deal with cursewords, you might want to just close your browser tab and move along to the next diary)
Allright, so long story short. We flew out of D/FW Tuesday morning after a 4 hour delay caused by a mechanical issue. Funny how a plane that's parked at an airport all night long somehow fails to be inspected, much less turned on, before it begins to taxi to the runway. Both of us only had carry on luggage because the trip was originally just supposed to be for one night.
Now, if you've flown through D/FW International airport, you know what a total clusterfuck it already is. The TSA people are rude (I think it's a prerequisite for employment), inconsistent, and just plain stupid. I always do my best to follow the TSA regulations so I can get through security as quickly as possible. I pull out my laptop, I bag all my bath stuff in ziplocks and put it in it's own bin, etc etc. Well, my dear travelling companion - my oldest friend in the entire world - apparently can't read the big glaring signs at the security desk. Heh.
So, he went through security and they pulled him out for a "random search". Ding dong didn't put his laptop in a separate bin. So, I wait and watch as the TSA employee unloads his bag, opens the laptop, swabs every corner of his backpack, runs a few tests, and then gives my friend all his stuff back.
Later when we arrive at our destination - 4 hours late - we get to the hotel and check in. My friend unloads his backpack and lo and behold, we discover he's inadvertently smuggled an illegal item. We work at a data center for a big internet corporation. We open a LOT of boxes. My friend had packed all his stuff in his work backpack and - because (if you haven't figured it out by now) he's a bit absent minded - he didn't clean it out before he packed it. So, my dear friend still has one of our very important tools in his backpack, and it's made it through both an x-ray AND a personal random search.
What is this item, you might be wondering?
It's a boxcutter. With blades. Yes, one of the very same instruments that our government claims were used by the 9-11 hijackers to kill 3000+ Americans on September 11. And we flew halfway across the country with it in his carry on bag.
BRILLIANT!
So after we discover this, he throws the blades away. He wants to keep the tool but not get into trouble going home. On the way home, he's pulled for another random search. This time, TSA takes his boxcutter even though it had no blades.
INCOMPETENCE. INCONSISTENCY. DANGER.
TSA: That's how we roll. God love the beauracracy.