TSA: An Inconvenient Truth

I had to fly to New York this today. Very exciting trip. The is the first time I’ve flown commercial in over two years. Why two years? I detest the hassle of security checkpoints and baggage checks. Trust me, I’m no jet setter. Kids make you stay at home.

Laptop? Check. Boarding Pass? Check. Itinerary? Check. Luggage? Check. All good to go. I quickly meandered my way through security and finally got to place my items on the baggage scanner. It was immediately halted by a “Ha!”. That’s right, a “Ha!”. A tall smug man who looked liked like an under worked version of Anton Ego proceeded to “inform” me that my baggage had items in it that exceeded the regulated 3 oz. allowed by the FAA. He then asked me if I wanted to get out of line and check my bag in on the flight OR just simply throw away my “illegal” items. I was perplexed for a second. He then looked me square into my eyes as if he were God and told me that he was “tired of throwing people’s stuff away.”

Immediately I thought “ASS!”, but I quickly told him that I didn’t care and I threw my items in the trash. I didn’t want him to have to do his job since he was SO tired of doing it in the first place.

He looked upset at my actions as if I had stolen his security thunder. He seemed to loathe the fact that I refused to be inconvenienced. Especially since I was making such good pace in DFW airport of all places. Yes. It cost me money, but my convenience has a higher value.

If the TSA wants to really improve its image amongst passengers, they should really change their attitude. They seem to breed inconvenience as if it was some master planned joke with a well crafted punchline. You know, the whole Richard Cranium thing.

Lesson: If you are company, one of the greatest things you can do for your customers and your clients is make their experience as comfortable and as easy as possible. This takes knowing who you are selling to and what makes them upset. How do you know that? You have a conversation with them. The days of asking our consumers to basically give blood before they check out of your e commerce store are gone. It’s inconvenient and slow. What your customers and clients is speed and ease of use. This helps build your brand image and gives those who interact with you a chance to tell others how easy it was to use your service or work with you.

So thanks TSA for giving me the opportunity to tell the world how inconvenient you make air travel. I’m not saying compromise safety for convenience. What I am saying is portray yourself as an agency who cares about the safety of passengers instead of one who would rather see the passenger upset and raving knowing they are helpless in the argument.

And to that TSA agent who seemed to love the fact that I forgot the 3 oz. rule…HA! I apologize for the inconvenience.