AgentCooper.NET

So I was going through airport security in Memphis yesterday and as I was doing the “routine” (shoes off, laptop out, pockets emptied) one of the security folks noticed my wallet in one of my bins and asked me to remove the cash – a request that perplexed me a bit.

I can see that they don’t want to be responsible if my cash “walks off” but at the same time who’s going to take it? The only folks that would have the opportunity would be the TSA folks themselves and personally I would like to think that if we’re entrusting them to keep air travel safe and free of terrorism then surely I should be able to trust them with $70 in cash going through an enclosed x-ray machine… if not, there’s a bigger problem.

I also suppose there is the possibility of me being selected for further screening and becoming separated from my belongings though I would argue should not occur as anyone who is selected for additional screening should have their belongings accompany them. But even if this scenario was to occur, how stupid would someone have to be to lift a wallet in front of security while on camera? Also, if this really did happen the least of my worries would be the cash and more on my identification and credit cards.

I guess I’ll just have to continue to be perplexed and assume the TSA is just protecting me from my own money…

Damn, I haven’t blogged in awhile and now Greg is giving me crap for it so I figure I should say something…

I’m off in Oklahoma for the second time in the last three weeks; this time I traveled using an award ticket which took me through Detroit. This was my first time to the DTW and I have to say its impressive airport – I was especially amazed at the size of the “A” concourse which consisted of ~70 gates. To put the size in perspective typically airport trams operate to take you from one concourse to another though in this case the concourse is so long they have an indoor tram (monorail) that operates just the one concourse – a stop at each end and one in the middle. They also have an underground walkway (tunnel) that connects the A and B\C concourses; I found this cool as well with the dim yet colorful lighting throughout. In addition the airport was well kept and had plenty of clean restaurants and lounges to stop off at – I was there for a three and half hour layover so this was indeed important.

I was amazed that EVERY gate I passed was branded Northwest\KLM and though I realize it’s one of their main hubs it was still amazing to see the number of flights they operate daily. For instance I arrived around 3:30pm and Northwest still had four flights scheduled for departure for Amsterdam out of DTW – in Seattle we only have one such departure daily. Which brings up that I find it ironic that an airline called Northwest has a relatively small presence up in the Pacific Northwest –  yes, I have my frequent flyer program through them but that’s primarily because of their great flights to Europe and the fact they award miles when traveling on Alaska Airlines which tends to work well for me.

Anyways, that’s all I have to say… for now.