I was at dinner the other night and asked a couple of friends why they did not visit family in Europe for the holidays this year. They said that after last year's experience, they had to take a year off. Last year, they left Manhattan four hours before their once-a-day TATL flight on CO, only to have their cab get stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel for over two hours due to a wreck.

At EWR, they got to the insane security line 45 minutes before departure. A TSA guy told them the line would take 45-60 minutes to clear. At that point, they went searching for a helpful CO EWR employee (don't worry, none was found) to assist them navigating the security line. I believe the exact answer they finally received was "it's not my problem" (even though no seats were available on CO to their destination for three days). They then ran back to the TSA guy they originally had spoken to. He told them there was nothing he could do.

Walking away, convinced they would miss their flight and possibly their entire trip, they were approached by another TSA employee who told them that if they would "help her", she would help them. She took them to the front of the line, apparently, with many knowing glances from other TSA employees, who must have gotten a cut of this woman's, um, initiative. After they cleared security, she went to shake my friend's hand, and they passed her $50.

While bribery is horrible, not to mention illegal, I wonder who would not take that deal - pay $50 to get through security to hedge against a completely ruined vacation.

Although no bad story about EWR really is that surprising, this seemed to be a new low. Perhaps I've missed a few threads, but I've never heard of someone having to commit a crime to catch their flight at EWR.

A couple of questions:

- Can't CO do something to help people on the verge of missing their flights through the security line? I'm assuming they can as I have seen it happen at IAH. Hell, even Air France did it for me (without my having to ask) in Paris when I had about 20 minutes to get a once-a-day connecting flight.

- Has anyone in a bind been approached by a TSA employee with a similar offer?