As I mentioned in another post, I like to think of myself as something of a “model passenger.”
I’m not saying that as a way to show off. It’s just that I’ve traveled a lot, so with that experience, I know what to expect and when to expect it. I also follow the rules, do what the TSA, gate agent and flight attendants tell me to do, don’t try to manipulate situations and generally do what I can to not be a PITA. Even when this situation came up, I did my best to make my needs known in a polite and respectful manner.
So, like I said, I’ve flown enough where I know what’s expected of me. So when I became THAT passenger the other week, it threw me for a loop.
I was on my way home from EWR to MCO. EWR was my 24th airport for JetBlue’s 25 for 25 promotion, so I was excited about that. But there was a lot of other stuff involved in this particular trip. The shutdown was still going on, and EWR was one of the airports that was consistently being reported (I love this page – so helpful!) as having major slowdowns and occasional ground stops that were causing flight delays and cancellations.
I was well prepared; I had everything I needed for an overnight stay, and even had a nearby hotel picked out (we had stayed there before, earlier this year – it was affordable, functional and had a shuttle to/from the airport), in case I was stuck staying overnight in Newark NJ. So I was confident from that perspective – I wasn’t going to be one of “those” passengers who would start yelling at the gate agent when told the airport was closed down; I had a solid Plan B. Not that I would ever yell at a gate agent anyway…but you know what I mean. But still, I REALLY didn’t want to have to spend a night in NJ. I wanted to go home.
So yeah, I was apprehensive and “What if I’m stuck here?” was very much on my mind.
So anyway, I returned the rental car and walked to Terminal A.
Heading Into TSA PreCheck
The TSA PreCheck line wasn’t bad at all – I had maybe 10 people ahead of me? Went through the scanner without an issue and waited for my backpack and rollerboard to get through.
And waited.
And…waited.
The conveyor belt had stopped, while the TSA officer looked at the screen for what seemed like hours.
The Moment I Realized My Mistake
And then, for no reason whatsoever, it dawned on me – I had filled my water bottle back at MCO, so I’d have something to sip on throughout the day. And I hadn’t emptied out my water bottle before I got on the TSA queue.
The “UGH!!!” that came out of my mouth was way louder than I would have liked.
The guy next to me, who was also waiting for his stuff, asked what’s happened.
“I just remembered I didn’t empty my water bottle. And the thing is, I KNOW BETTER!”
He kind of chuckled and suggested it happens to the best of us LOL.
Well, yeah. But not me!!! LOL!
But now I just had to wait until my backpack, with my 24-ounce water bottle in the net pocket on the side, came out of the scanner.
it finally did.
“Who does this belong to?” the TSA officer yelled.
“Me,” I said sheepishly. “It’s mine. And yeah, I know – the water bottle still has water in it. I apologize. I travel all the time. I promise I know better! I’m so sorry!”
The TSAO kinda smiled and said he was going to check my bag (pointing) over “there.”
I got my carry-on bag, which was behind my backpack in the queue and had no issues and caught up to him. Once again I apologized, said I knew there was water in the water bottle, know it shouldn’t have been there, but just totally forgot to empty it before I went on line.
Of course, although this had never happened to me before, it happens to TSAOs every 5 minutes, if not more. So, not surprisingly, he was much less embarrassed and anxious about the whole thing than I was.
“Don’t worry about it. Happens all the time,” he said, to put my mind at ease.
My TSA Walk of Shame
“OK, you’ve got 2 choices,” he said, “do you want to keep the water bottle?”
“Yes.”
“OK. Then go back through the line and I’ll meet you on the other side of the scanner. I’ll give you the water bottle and you can dump it out. Then put the water bottle in a tray so it can go through the scanner again, and you walk through the scanner again, too. OK?”
Sure, that would work for me. Except I was traveling alone and didn’t have anyone to watch my carry-on. So he moved my carry-on bag inside the TSAOs’ area so it was out of reach of other passengers (I wasn’t concerned about theft; if someone stole my bag, all they’d be getting was the apples I had gotten at Delicious Orchards, my bag o’liquids, my toothbrush/toothpaste and a clean pair of underwear).
With that, I did the walk of shame, through the TSA PreCheck queue, like a salmon swimming upstream. Got the bottle. Emptied it. And went through the whole queue/scanner all over again.
Once I had my water bottle, the TSAO met me by my carry-on bag so he could give it back to me. I apologized once again, explaining that I REALLY DO know better. He smiled, told me not to worry about it, and I was on my way.
That walk of shame though…I hope I never have to do it again.
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