No Runny Eggs

I’ve got to travel by commercial air again this week. I’ve got to be in Louisville tomorrow.

After fuming a couple more days over the “you’re nobody to us, go away” response I got from the TSA, I decided to see if I could get some help from my Congresscritter. I sat down and wrote a detailed, factual account of the travelous interruptus that I have contracted from the TSA. I even remembered an important point that I had previously forgotten.

Remember back after 9/11 when the TSA (or what ever they were called then) had some customer focus and was actually was looking for a way to make the lines quicker? Well, one of the things they trialed was a machine that did a retina and fingerprint match. Because I was traveling about 125K miles per year, I applied for the program. Part of the process for the program was that they had to do a background check on you along with capturing your retina and fingerprint. Guess what, I was accepted. So, at least at that time, I wasn’t a security risk!

I finished my letter, had the letter all printed, stuffed in an envelope, stamped and finished with a return address. And then, something odd happened.

I woke up this morning, less than 24 hours from the departure of my flight. While I was sure I knew what would happen, I went to the NWA web site and attempted to get my boarding pass. To my great surprise, I got a boarding pass. No muss no fuss! So now what? I guess there are now one of a few explanations:

1. NWA hasn’t gotten the TSA’s message.
2. NWA still has my security clearance on file from 8 years ago (I think that previous program was sponsored by the various airlines)
3. Only UAL thinks I’m a security risk
4. Just as magically as I became a security risk, the TSA has decided I’m no longer one.

I don’t know what to make of this. I hope that whatever works today will work again on Friday when I return home. If it does, my answer, short term, is easy; as much as I hate to admit it, I’ll fly NWA