Newsstand - US Thompson Regrets Cutting Ahead Of Other Air Passengers

WASHINGTON (AP)--U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson feels terrible about cutting in front of airline passengers waiting to be cleared through security, his spokesman said Tuesday.

Thompson went past scores of passengers to catch a 4:30 p.m. United Airlines flight last Friday at Reagan National Airport. He was on his way to a Lincoln Day Dinner/Republican Party fund-raiser in DuPage County, Ill.

Some passengers had been waiting in line 40 minutes and at least one was angry enough to call a newspaper to complain.

Spokesman Tony Jewell said Thompson was following instructions from his security detail, which includes armed agents who must fill out paperwork before boarding a commercial plane.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4286,DI_CO_20020219_006769,00.html?mod=air

the only thing he regrets is that the press found out about it; it'd be one thing if he was on pressing gov't business (maybe); it's quite another to cut in front of everyone to go to a fundraiser! what an arrogant so* ... tls