Another fascinating day of Travel in a post 9/11 world

I arrived at the airport my requisite 2 hours before flight time in Houston.  The folks who work with me think I am crazy to do this, but I don't miss many airplanes!  But the real reason I get here 2 hours early is so I have zero stress going through the security shuffle at the airport.

I have recently adopted the airline "green" initiative, as all of you know I am Mister Save the Planet, and it is really convenient to have the boarding pass on the iPhone and have one less thing to keep up with.  Been working great for the last two months.  But today in Houston things have changed again with the TSA.  Maybe it is just because this is President's day and the government employees of the TSA are just hacked off because they have to work so that we Capitalist Pigs can go on with making money and not paying our fare share of taxes.

So today I get into the line to start the security screening process bus showing my ID and placing my  electronic boarding pass on one of those new fangled electronic boarding pass readers and do my bit to save the planet.   Assuming the reader, which is powered by some fossil fuel burning power plant no doubt, actually reads your boarding pass and beeps, the TSA gate keepers ask you what your name is, which he/she just read off the reader and compared to you ID.

For the last two months once you convinced them you were you that was the end of the boarding pass, ID exam and you could put the ID and Boarding pass away, pick up the requisite number of plastic bins and start the process of taking off your shoes, your belt, emptying your pockets of all change, handkerchief, combs, business cards, pins and car keys and carefully put them in one of your carry ons while simultaneously taking out any liquids you might have in your bag, putting them in the right size baggie, then waiting for your bags to be sucked into the X-ray machine and to then be directed to either the Porno Scanner or the regular security ionization chamber.

But today if you had an electronic boarding pass, because you were serious about saving the planet as you all know I am, you were told,  by the TSA agent "hold on their fellow, where is your boarding pass?"  Me, "Uh sir it is on my phone that is now in my carry on, that has just been sucked into the x-ray machine and is patiently waiting on the other side of the scanner for me to pick it up!" TSA, "well you can't go through these machines (the scanners) without one of us looking at your boarding pass."  Me, " the guy already checked my boarding pass and ID".  TSA, "which guy?".  Me, "uh (looking around and pointing), that guy right there."  TSA, "uh okay, go ahead!"  And Shazam I am waived through the Porno scanner, and sent over to my now very lonely bag and computer case.  But boy do I now feel safer for having such a crack crew of government employees securing our airways!

Lesson learned, from now on screw the planet, I am printing the paper boarding pass, to hell with this green technology!

And because I get to the airport 2 hours before take off I am stress free and had time to do this post!

Marc