Airport Security

Yes sir, I was on another flight again today. Having gone nearly 3 full years without leaving Denver, I went on 3 different trips in the last five days. The vacations/work themselves were fun, but I will attempt to work harder to avoid any additional traveling in the near future.

What is going on with me? I was departing from Seattle just last Saturday. I checked in relatively early, and it all went well. The ticketing agent was attractive, might I add, but upon encountering security, my charm ran away. I started by handing my id and boarding pass to the TSA agent. She looked it over with a careful eye, looked up at me, and returned her gaze back to the id. This continued for what seemed like an eternity, as if she were thinking this guy's evil, but eventually returned everything, and with a stern voice, called out, "Have a good day," like it were an ominous warning rather than a positive adieu. I thanked her over my shoulder, and proceeded towards the metal detectors and x-ray machines. 

I removed my shoes, watch, cell phone, and necklace, and placed them in the plastic tray, alongside of my laptops and my bag. I walked through the metal detectors and then a TSA called out, "Who is the owner of this bag?" I looked over, and raised my hand calmly. "Sir, come with us," the agent beckoned. From there, my baggage was checked in an overly thorough manner, and I was checked too. As you can imagine, I passed all of the tests, but the problem was that because all of my belongings were strewn about the table, it was a burden to say the least to restore my belongings in their rightful places in my bag.

Now, an occassional check here and there is fine, but this is becoming ridiculous. I left for San Diego this morning, and despite the fact that I was running late for my flight today, I got pulled aside (again) and went through exactly the same process. On my return trip from San Diego, they did the exact same thing to me... this time without taking stuff out of my bag.

I am happy to report that security is positively doing the right thing, and the security agents certainly did not discriminate (as they called for merely the owner of the bag and did not single me out). However, what am I doing that is making these people think I am inherently diabolical? I carried two different bags with two very different sets of items inside, why is it I am being screened so frequently? The agents, as you know, do not look at ids AND THEN SCREEN, but they have two different sets of agents look at ids and conduct the tests. If the tests are random, what are the chances of me getting screened, 3 out of 4? Honestly, I am more annoyed than anything. I almost left my music player at the airport due to the perhaps excessive screening. What really tickes my feathers is that if I were more devious, I could still find ways around security given their tests that were conducted, but honestly, I think I will just avoid traveling for... the next 3 years or so.