I was flying all of last week from PHL to take advantage of their GoFares and Triple Miles promos. 4 PHL-LAX, 1 PHL-SAN and 1 PHL-PVD squeezed in between (trip details in MR forum)

Day 2 - my flight 46 from LAX gets in at about 6 AM, my flight to PVD is not until 8:50. I'm sure some of you know of the nice bathrooms in PHL when exiting the C concourse, just next to the moving walkways to the D and F concourses. There are nice, with a sink in the same enclosure as the toilet so it's convenient to get a shave, brush your teeth and is spacious enough to change clothes (using the diaper table is convenient).

Well, getting to the point:
I go into said bathroom at about 6:15 - perform my functions, brush, shave and change clothes. Well, took about 40 minutes ( jokes later, please)

When I exit the bathroom, I am confronted by a TSA agent. Agent is very courteous and polite. He says, "Sir, we noted you on camera going into that bathroom for 40 minutes and the change of clothes. I think I know what you were doing but can you explain?"



So, I explain - just a change of clothes before my next flight. He understands, said he's seen other flyers do that - jokes and is very pleasant.

Second TSA agent walks in. Asks what's the matter - first guy explains. Second guy is classic goon (slicked back hair, tattoo on neck, sunglasses - reflective, no less etc. ) - asks for my boarding pass.

Of course, I don't have the PHL-PVD pass yet - was going to pick it up at the gate. Show him my pass from LAX.

He says, "You can't be inside the sterile area without a BP. You must come down to the screening area for screening and answer some questions about how you got in without a BP."

I explain I do have a BP and show him the LAX-PHL BP. He says that is not valid since I don't have a BP for the flight I am about to board. I ask him that if I hadn't mentioned that PVD flight, maybe I never left the terminal after arriving from LAX. Maybe my ride isn't coming to pick me up till 8 and instead of waiting outside, I decided to wait in the terminal.

He says that would be lying - becoming really nasty now - and said he needs to call the Philadelphia police. The first agent says not to worry and just let me go catch my flight. After a lengthy discussion, second guy says I need to leave the sterile area, get a BP from the kiosk (just outside) and re-enter. The line is a mile long but thankfully, they had an elite line and I was at the WTMD quickly.

I have flown over 60 segments this year and know exactly what to wear and ALWAYS take off my shoes even without being asked. I pass through, no beeps. I get pulled over for secondary. No SSSS on BP. No shoes. No beeps. Nothing in carry-on.

Surprise, surprise... agent #2 is the guy doing the secondary. Resigning myself to it, I let him do it and he remarks, "We need to have people get boarding passes so we know how many people are in the terminal. That way, if there is an emergency, we know how many people to evacuate."

I looked at him incredulously and said... :How about Online check-in? How about people who check in and step out for a smoke ?" I told him I didn't believe him but whatever. And he says they have ways of figuring out who is in and who is outside the terminal. As much as I was enjoying this idiocy, I had a plane to catch. Agent #1 waves at me and smiles, wishes me a good flight.

That concludes the story. Now, here is the question.

How much is too much?

Should the TSA be watching toilets to see how long people spend in there? I could have been sick, could have been reading a book - any one of a dozen reasons. Could I have refused to answer agent #1, notwithstanding him being very polite. Should I have refused to answer him?

Having said that, if the film IS available to the TSA and somebody DOES see someone spend an hour in a bathroom and coming out in different clothes, are they obligated to follow up? Looking at the 9-11 commission, would they be dragged around IF they saw something like that which later turned out to be a genuine security threat? After all, some congressman could look at Tom Ridge and say, "You mean, you had video of this person going into the bathroom, spending an hour in there, and coming out in different clothes. And you did NOTHING?" Hindsight is 20-20!!!!

So, what do you think? And please, let's keep this thread free from name calling. I don't care for the TSA any more than the next person but, like someone earlier said, blame the apparatus, not the individuals.

Again, how much is too much?