09-04-2016, 06:35 PM
Several years ago, before the docs were able to get my neuro crud somewhat under control, we were at literally the farthest gate from the terminal entrance/TSA checkpoint, boarding the jumbo jet for Hawaii. Well, since Mrs. Buzz has been a flight attendant since the 1970's, the airlines, then in cahoots w/ TSA, "randomly" flagged a few/several extra "non-revs" (airline employees and/or their family members flying on passes) to be RE-screened, by escorting those randomly selected lucky souls back to the front of the terminal to be processed, usually w/ a bit of extra hoopla, all in an effort to convince the public how safe they (TSA) were keeping the airport.
Turned out there were no available wheelchairs and/or attendants available, and there was no way for me to get back to the front of the terminal w/o such assistance, so they had to arrange for the TSA mobile checking gear to be brought all the way to the farthest gate to re-check me right next to the boarding area. Needless to say, this needlessly delayed the flight for everybody. As most of you know, the airlines do what they can to keep as many flights on schedule as they possibly can. My "random" selection caused a needless ding to the airline's on-time rating, and pissed off a few hundred passengers and crew. Thankfully, after that incident, the gate agents got w/ management, and w/in a couple of weeks, the "random" non-rev selection policy was modified. The policy was originally orchestrated so as not to piss off real passengers at the airline's expense, essentially by using non-revs as shills to help enforce the TSA's show of presence.
Getting your tickets/boarding pass stamped "TSA Pre-Check" is soooo much better.
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Turned out there were no available wheelchairs and/or attendants available, and there was no way for me to get back to the front of the terminal w/o such assistance, so they had to arrange for the TSA mobile checking gear to be brought all the way to the farthest gate to re-check me right next to the boarding area. Needless to say, this needlessly delayed the flight for everybody. As most of you know, the airlines do what they can to keep as many flights on schedule as they possibly can. My "random" selection caused a needless ding to the airline's on-time rating, and pissed off a few hundred passengers and crew. Thankfully, after that incident, the gate agents got w/ management, and w/in a couple of weeks, the "random" non-rev selection policy was modified. The policy was originally orchestrated so as not to piss off real passengers at the airline's expense, essentially by using non-revs as shills to help enforce the TSA's show of presence.
Getting your tickets/boarding pass stamped "TSA Pre-Check" is soooo much better.
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