Mats

I've had good luck with using a mobile boarding pass. I shut down my phone the second I scan it to board the plane. If asked to see my boarding pass I get my phone out, slowly start to turn it on, fumble over my password... and then they give up and let me get on the plane.

I also spend a LOT of time fumbling around looking for my ID when asked. They can't stand that, so they'll just let me get on the plane.

"Sheep" passengers are all too likely to have multiple forms of identification and just hand it over to the TSA before being asked. They probably offer them a few bucks as a tip for helping "keep us safe."

I learned the mobile boarding pass trick in Atlanta when I had a connecting flight coming back from overseas. Since there was no travel document inspection at the international transfer security checkpoint, my boarding card had no scribbles on it. The TSA woman went crazy, as if I must have snuck in. I had to explain that they don't write on boarding cards at all airports. She was too befuddled and let me on the plane. After all, nobody ever changes planes in Atlanta.

The whole thing is theatrics, but I'm baffled by the need to show a boarding pass or identification without matching the two. Since they have no logic, the answer is "We have reasons we can't tell you." Anyone with an IQ above 20 knows that this translates to, "We have no legitimate reason to do this." It's condescending to our intelligence to argue "special secrets classified far above your level."

I dream of the "Great Airline Revolt." I've had flights in Newark, Raleigh, Honolulu Chicago, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and San Francisco all delayed due to gate inspections. It costs the airlines thousands of dollars per minute when a flight pushes back late. The airlines don't stick up for themselves, but I think they should send the TSA the bill. "You imposed a surprise inspection, it delayed our flight, here's how much it cost. Did you find anything? We didn't think so."

Where is Kip Hawley to restate his famous line? He said, "I think we should get it right at the checkpoint."

How do you think the people feel who have landed, are sitting on the taxiway desperate to get home or make a connection, but they can't get to a gate because the TSA is trying to figure out why someone from Alaska or Hawaii isn't carrying a passport, or if "520P" on a boarding pass means "flight number 520" or "5:20 pm" or "52-OP, which could be a code word for terrorists?

As we know from the "leaked" TSA manual from some time back, the list of gates with surprise inspections is published by the airport's TSA staff every morning. I think they have a responsibility to notify the airline. The flight can have its boarding time changed. It still screws people on short connections, but a delay is still less likely. If the TSA insists on these pointless exercises, they could at least do so without economic damage.

The only power we have is to make a DOT complaint so that the pie chart in the monthly statistics shows the number of flights delayed by the TSA.