I flew out of PHL this morning and tried to use at the security checkpoint my old driver's license, which expired on August 31, 2010. I've encountered a bit of friction about doing this at other airports, but what happened at PHL this morning was unprecedented and over the top.

The TDC woman asked me if I had a current (not expired) ID. That's not unusual. I answered as I always do: "What's the matter with that one?" She said that it's expired, which of course I knew already. I pointed out that TSA's own rules say that expired IDs are acceptable for up to a year, and other TSA employees have actually complimented me for the clever use of an expired ID so as not to risk losing my much more valuable current one. (I need to rent a car at my destination and would be in trouble if my driver's license were misplaced.) She kept asking me if I had another ID, and I kept asking pleasantly what's wrong with the one I gave her, which complies with TSA's own rules.

After a while -- and several rude comments from her, such as she wished I would just leave! -- an LTSO showed up and basically continued the demands for current ID without addressing the issue, if any, with the expired one, other than to say it's expired. She tried to walk away with my ID and boarding pass twice, but both times I asked her to "please" leave them with me if she must leave herself. She then threatened to treat me as a "no ID" case, which requires phone verification of identity and lots of time wasted. She also refused to give me her name, actually turning to the right when I tried to read her name tag. I asked to speak with a supervisor.

The supervisor was, if this is possible, even worse! After speaking with the LTSO in private for 5 minutes or so, she told me that she would speak with me for exactly 2 minutes, after which I would have to begin the "no ID" procedure. Rather than do that, I gave her my current driver's license. After I went through security, uneventfully, I went to the supervisors' area to speak with her again. She basically refused to address any of my concerns, except to go on and on about how I couldn't possibly know TSA's rules, and if I did know a secret rule, well, I shouldn't! I asked to speak with a screening manager. The supervisor told me that the manager "is off today" (Sunday), and no other screening manager is going to come there "for this nonsense." I told her that I believed it's my right to speak with a screening manager, and she walked away without answering.

Another supervisor was listening to all this, so after the first one walked away, I asked the second one, Jeff McCoog, to call a screening manager for me. He did. Jeff was really terrific in every way. I wish that the TSA had more people like him. We spoke for a while, as I waited.

When I told my story to Arthur Vogt, the screening manager who arrived 5 minutes later, he just shook his head in disbelief and promised to speak with all the people involved about this unnecessary attack on someone who had followed the rules. He apologized profusely for the hard time that I got following TSA's own rules (which he agreed I knew correctly). He promised also to speak with the manager normally involved with that checkpoint (for terminal D), who he said "would not tolerate" that kind of behavior. He shook my hand and wished me a pleasant flight. I told him that TSA and the American people need not be at war with each other, and he agreed completely.

Bruce