Good Afternoon!
Greetings from Memphis, TN!
Getting out of LaGuardia was OK. However, the security line was a total joke. There were two lines - one had two TSA agents checking IDs, and one only had one TSA agent checking IDs. -Guess which line I was in?
And due to some unfortunate luck of the draw, a whole slew of foreign travelers were in the line of front of me... And the TSA agent really wasn't sure just how much of their paperwork he had to check. There was a five minute(!) span where it appeared he was re-writing out this one gentleman's passport, after which he took him over to the "Special Handling" line. And then there was the Iranian family who spoke next to no English, and they continued to confuse the agent for another five minutes before he walked them over to the "Special Handling" line. Then came the group French students who were checked in as a group... Meanwhile, the other line was moving quite steadily. Some of us even pleaded with the "extra" agent to check our IDs so we could get through. One lady was already cutting it close in regards to her flight time due to an error with her ticketing before she got in the line. The gentlemen behind me even flagged down a few other agents to point out what was going on, only to be answered with, "Well, he'll be done with them soon. It's not my job." WHAT?!?!?!? Eventually, another TSA agent came by.. And while the "old" agent was still trying to figure out how to mark the papers of the five French students, about twenty of us were cleared by the new agent - including the British couple in front of me. I thanked her profusely for her efficiency. -And she seemed sort of caught off guard that I had thanked for anything.
By the time I reached the gate, they had just announced the "All Aboard" call, so I boarded. The flight, as always, was a bit longer than I think it "should" be - just under three hours - I keep thinking it should only take two. However, the middle seat next to me was empty, and I used the flight to catch up on my magazine reading, as well as some listening via my iPod.
...And when I got to the hotel, the UPTA folks had a nice snack table set up with chips, pretzels, nuts, fruit, sodas and champagne(!).
