My flight from Bush Intercontinental airport in Humble, Texas to Stanstead airport in London, was set to take off at 4:20 p.m. on Monday May 21st, with my gate closing at 4 p.m.
I arrived, as required, 2 hours ahead of time to check in. I began the checkin process at 2:00 p.m. I've flown out of Houston dozens of times, and have never had too much trouble making it to the gate on time. The line was a bit long, but nothing too daunting... so I thought.
Despite the fact that I had checked in online prior to arriving at the airport... I somehow still had to wait in line for an hour to check my luggage. Some fantastically intelligent person thought it unnecessary to to create separate lines for people checking in and people only dropping bags (aka the ones of us that already checked in). But, you know, it happens. So once I was finally checked in, boarding card, passport, and ridiculously heavy carry on in hand, I headed towards security.
Now, I'd like to maintain my ladylike façade as long as I can, but for sake of the story I have to tell you that at this point, I needed to pee. The line for security, however, did not look too long... only about 1/3 of the length roped off for the line. I figured I'd wait, I'd been in longer security lines before.
By about 3:40 I had only moved about 1/4 of the way through the line (and had yet to pee). A similar thing had happened when I was traveling with my parents one time, and after politely explaining to the Security Officer at the front that our gate would soon be closing we were moved to front of the line. So, as 3:50 rolled around, I caught the attention of an officer. "Excuse me Sir, but my gate closes at 4 and I was just wo..." to which I was loudly interrupted with "Everyone's does. We're understaffed." and then he quickly walked away. TSA agents, always so sweet and helpful...
After asking the people around me it turned out that yes, literally everyone in the line was on one 4:20 flight or another... by this point I could see the security scanners. All 10 of them. And I could see the ones that were actually being used. All 2 of them. Awesome. That's supply and demand at its finest.
Now don't get me wrong, I want them to do their jobs to the absolute best of their ability. I'll take my shoes off, I'll unpack my carry on, I'll remove all loose change, and I'll step through your scanner. And, if I absolutely must, I'll even consent to a pat down but only if I have to, because at the end of the day, I don't care how long you take, as long as you can tell me that my flight will be a safe one. That being said, I'd also like you tell me that I'll actually make it onto my flight.
And then suddenly, at around 3:58 it was like everyone working there suddenly realized Oh yeah, these planes probably want to leave on time. Suddenly the fire had been lit, and I made it through the last half of the line, and through security by 4:10. Thank God... because I'm not sure that my bladder would have made it much longer. Luckily, my gate had been held (as essentially half the plane was in security with me) and was located next to a restroom. Hallelujah. I think that there is a moral to this story.
Pee before Security.
and never count of TSA to be speedy.
beerespectful always... especially of TSA Officers... because lets be honest, they're scary.
No comments:
Post a Comment