Airline Security?

It was only when I was looking for our seats that I realized my error.  I had arrived at the gate and most of the other passengers had already boarded even although we had over 1/2 an hour till the scheduled departure. My wife was waiting anxiously and was happy to see me – all the more so since I had in my hand the coffee she had wanted.  So we walked the 1/2 dozen steps to the gate as I reached inside my bag for our boarding passes, pulled them out and handed them to the gate agent who scanned them and handed them back.

Off we went down the jetway to join the short queue at the aircraft entrance.  A few moments later we were walking down the aisle as the other passengers seated themselves.  I took a glance at the boarding cards and saw we were assigned 17A and 17B, however, these were not the exit row seats I had been expecting!  Then I realized, reached inside my bag and pulled out the correct set of boarding cards for this flight – the ones with our I-94 forms attached that assigned us to 14A and 14B – an exit row!

Then the alarm bells started ringing. I needed to ensure that the gate agent had our I-94 forms otherwise we would not legally have left the USA which might cause problems when we returned.  The second problem was that we had got on to a flight with the wrong boarding passes.  You see the boarding passes I had handed to the gate agent were the ones for the flight we had just got off – they were sticking out of my book in the same bag!

Being aware of the potential for a security incident, I declared these two things to the flight attendant who immediately assured me that I was mistaken and simply could not have got onto the flight by showing the wrong boarding passes.  The computer wouldn’t let me!  She did, however, agree to take our boarding passes and I-94s to the gate agent so we would be processed correctly.

Some time later, another flight attendant came by and gave me back the boarding passes (less I-94s) without comment.  When I asked what had happened, he told me he didn’t know as it wasn’t his job but the matter was being investigated.

All-in-all, I’m pretty astonished that only hours after the Department of Homeland Security announced even more security measures in the aftermath of the Christmas Day terrorist act, that not one but two people were able to board a flight with the incorrect documentation.  As to why that happened, I do not know but unlike the nonchalant attitude of the airline concerned, I do care.

I care for a whole number of reasons. Firstly I saw the President take the rap for the Christmas Day attempt. Of course, he is the man at the top – where the ‘buck’ stops. However, that does not mean that it was his fault and indeed fault is not what we should be looking for – however, its easy to find a scapegoat and punish him. Personally, I’d rather see those in positions of responsibility freed from the instantaneous attentions of the circling vultures whose only want to feed on whatever has happened.  With that freedom our leaders would have the opportunity to spend more time and effort fixing the problems rather than fending off the spears and arrows of their opponents.  That’s why this story mentions neither the airline or the airport involved and went first to the Department of Homeland Security and subsequently onto my blog.

So what has this to do with Orlando Vacation Rentals?  Well, frankly nothing except to say that the vast majority of our guests this year will arrive and depart for their vacation of a lifetime by aircraft.  Their safety is in all of our hands so lets let everyone involved get on and make it as safe an experience as possible!

This article may be syndicated only with all hyperlinks and attribution intact. John Macrae ©2010.

Tags: air travel, airline security, tsa