Airport Security

My wife and I were in line to pass through airport security today when I started telling her how the last few times I’d flown, just as I was reaching the front of the line I was suddenly diverted through the rope line to another area, only to realize I was now at the very end of a much, much longer line. This didn’t just happen once, but twice. The third time it was about to happen, I refused to budge from the line I was in.

So I was telling this to my wife right when we noticed that the security line ahead of us had split into two paths, one being much shorter than the other. Seeming to be too good to be true, I asked a security person whether we could go down that line. She said, “That’s what it’s there for.” So we did.

A half hour later I was ready to strangle someone. As the other line’s fliers rushed past us, moving through security like clockwork, our line was in a perpetual standstill. Finally grumbling aloud about our situation, the fellow ahead of us turned to explain that what security hadn’t told us was that this was the “heightened security” line, and that everyone ahead of us had been pre-selected for additional screening. While I’m all for a “heightened security” line, I just wish we’d stayed in the line we were in. Being a mom and dad with a stroller and a twenty month old baby, the security guard could have been a little more helpful.