When I checked into the airline the day before, I noticed that my boarding pass did not reflect that I was TSA Pre✓. Sometimes the number of passengers getting through security can be a time consuming ordeal. Fortunately, I didn’t belabor the issue. Miracle of miracles, I remembered the tip that a thoughtful TSA agent provided me following the last time I had stood in line for an inordinate amount of time. He looked at my boarding pass and pointed out that I was on the Southwest Airline’s A-List and that one of the perks was an avenue to avoid standing in line. As you enter the general board area, you bypass the line and walk through the section just beyond the first person at the security check entrance and go directly to the front. I’m throwing that out there as a community service announcement. You may also be on the A-List and routinely find yourself standing in line.
Of course, the rules are subject to change. Take yesterday for example, I told the TSA agent at the entrance that I was on the A-List and he said: “You’ve got to walk past the dog first”. I looked to my right and the first hurdle to pass was walking past a TSA agent who was walking back and forth across a wide passageway with a large dog on a leash. Only one person at a time was permitted to enter the section that was probably about forty-feet long. You were required to walk past the man and his dog one-person-at-a-time. The agent monitoring the line and giving people permission to walk through was providing everyone the same instruction: “Once you start walking don’t stop.”
I figured the dog wasn’t meaner than a junkyard dog unless for some reason I set off an alarm in his head. Fortunately he took no interest in me. I hurriedly walked passed the dog. When I got back to the TSA – agent that had told me I first had to walk past the dog, he ushered me into the entrance that by-passes the line. There was no one in front of me.
Getting through security was absolutely no problem. For some reason, every time I’m scanned by walking into the chamber where you have to raise you hands over your head, while the x-ray device rotates around you in a semi-circle, I find myself a candidate for a tap-down. Thoughtfully, they now ask if you mind if they put their hands on you. Actually, it felt pretty good, but I didn’t suggest a rubdown was in order. I figure the less time with security folks, the better served I am.
The colleague that was flying with to Washington was already at the gate. He greeted me with the sad news that a charted plane carrying an entire Brazilian soccer team had crashed killing 71 of the 81 people on board. According to his recount of the story, the pilot was the owner of the relatively newly formed airline and he had carefully calculated how much fuel was needed to get to where they were headed. Seriously, no one wants to run out of gas particularly in an airplane.
It reportedly was going to be a close call, but the pilot had a short history of successfully making those kinds of commutes. He could have landed the plane and refueled, but he didn’t. The cost associated with making that kind of refueling stop was approximately $5,000. Perhaps it was an unnecessary business expense. He opted to take his chances. My colleague provided me a detailed accounting of the misinformation shared by the pilot with the tower that could have potentially made a difference, but a factual accounting could have come back to haunt the pilot. He obviously didn’t take that kind of chance.
The pilot didn’t declare a fuel emergency and another airplane with a suspected fuel leak was allowed to land first. As the plane circled for a delayed landing, they simply ran out of time. The story seems like a repeat of soccer team crash from three or four years ago. It is very sad.
In fact, sad news was already laying heavily in my thoughts. On Sunday night I learned that a couple that routinely escape the harshness of winter in Wyoming by staying in our area to avoid the cold, had recently been killed in an automobile accident. Actually, their deaths occurred in May in Colorado, but we were just notified of the news.
Yesterday morning as I leisurely took my time getting to the airport, I saw a report on Facebook of a tragic incident took place in our neighborhood the night before. The chorus to the Avett Brothers song “True Sadness” came to mind. “Cause I still wake up, shaken by dreams – And I hate to say it, but the way it seems –
Is that no one is fine- Take the time, to peel a few layers- And you will find
True sadness.
All My Best!
Don