In lots of threads, the folks staffing the security checkpoints have sometimes come in for more than a little derision. But let's give equal time to the stupid pax who add to the security staffers' woes. Here's one I saw today:

At SFO, I was in the UA security line ~ 7 p.m. The woman in front of me had only a boarding pass. No purse, no carry-on, no pockets (that I could discern). Only a boarding pass. The agent checking i.d.'s and b.p.'s before the x-ray said "I need to see your i.d." She said "It's with my husband at gate 78 -- we're just connecting here and I just ran out to have a smoke. He has my purse and i.d." The agent looked (and I think I would have too!) a bit baffled and said "But I need to see some identification to prove it's your boarding pass."

Now, I can understand someone making this kind of silly mistake, running outside for a nicotine hit and then having one of those oh-my-God moments at which you are truly embarrassed and chagrined and apologetic.

But this is where I lost all sympathy for her: She began to berate the agent, saying again (more loudly and more slowly this time, as if the agent was addled) I just went out for a cigarette; my husband has my i.d. at gate 78, and we already checked in once. So you need to let me in now."

At that point the agent called a supervisor over and I went on past her to the next machine; the last I heard the agent and supervisor were conferring about how they could page the husband at the gate quickly, and woman was getting more and more irate at the way she was being "treated."

Some people.

[This message has been edited by cblaisd (edited 01-20-2002).]