emersonbiguns

So I find myself having to commute from the Hooterville Airport, Haircare and Tire Center and TSA is a royal PITA.

Specifically, I travel in uniform hoping to minimize the harassment but it seems to have no effect. I check in at the counter prior to clearing TSA (no KCM available), get CASS'd, get my listing doc for the jumpseat and line up in the Pre-Check cattle chute. I meekly approach the TSA officer with my crew ID and Global Entry ID card and immediately get chastised for using the Pre-Check line when it's not listed on my jumpseat doc (not even sure if they can put it on there or not, but will ask next week when I get to do this all again.) Then I get the three fingered prostate exam from the toenail clipper thieves.

This wouldn't hurt my pride so much if it weren't for the fact that the crew I'm going to be sitting behind in the jumpseat walks past TSA and gets let out to the aircraft through the "secret door." I know, first world, whiny pilot problems but....

What are my options?

1. Loudly state "Don't you know who I am?" when questioned by TSA?
2. Show my scam envy and snarkely ask TSA how the crew bypassed security, thereby possibly ruining their good deal?
3. Buy jelly donuts for the station employees in hope I will be given access to the "secret door"?
4. Suck it up and enjoy a smoke after the TSA fingering?

SevereClear1

Don't show them your ticket and just your crew badge
That jumpseat ticket is your first class invitation to butthole exam

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Myfingershurt

Seriously. Why do you check in outside security? That’s not required when in uniform. Make life easy. Enter airport. Straight to precheck or employee line. Whichever is shorter. Also, be cordial to TSA agents. Develop a good working relationship with the ones you see most often. Learn their names and remember them. Treat them like human beings that are just doing their jobs. Do this for a year or so and life gets easier. I also commute from a smaller airport. Not hooterville. But not a class bravo either.

emersonbiguns

I'll give that a try, but I'm betting that will cause a major helmet fire for the TSA ID checker. (see my response below...)


I guess I didn't make it very clear, we're talking small... One "gate" (door), two RJ-200 flights a day, no employee line, no gate check-in, etc. The first time I tried jumping out of that station the agent couldn't figure out how to CASS me so I ended up driving 2.5 hours the opposite direction to a "real" airport.

I always try to show people that are doing their job respect, however it gets a little frustrating when you get treated like a three year old at a TSA checkpoint that is operating entirely differently than I've ever seen in any of the other places I've ever been. Seriously, head scratching, WTF planet am I on sort of different...

That's why I was hoping one of the regional guys might know what's up with REALLY small stations.

SevereClear1

Well sure check in before but there is no reason to show them that ticket. Your crew badge should be enough. Even some airports may ask for a government ID too but no ticket put that in you pocket

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Myfingershurt

Gotcha. Some of those small airports are a little over zealous when it comes to security. I’m sure the local managers were told they have to be hyper vigilant because the 9/11 terrorists didn’t originate in the large airports the doomed flight left from but connected from flights from the nowhere airports. Now they over compensate.

rickair7777

Get used to it, it's a small town thing. I deal with it every time I go visit family. They think they're super-secret agents or something. At least you know the bad guys probably aren't getting away with anything on that flight.

SonicFlyer

How did that work out in early mid-century Germany?

TorqueWrench

What happened then?

emersonbiguns

OPSEC, gotchya. Mum's the word.

I was going to post the recipe for the cracker/toothpaste dirty bomb, but I know this isn't a SIPRNet forum.