I had a strange thing happen the other day while going through security before my flight from Indianapolis to Dallas Love Field. After I’d shown the first TSA guy my I.D. and boarding pass I started untying my shoes and taking off my belt. I was vaguely aware of TSA agents barking out various stuff to passengers but they’re always doing that. Droning on about the same old thing:
*“Make sure your pockets are completely empty.”
“Place your laptop in a separate bin.”
“Empty your drinks into the trash can.”*
I mostly just tune it out because I fly enough that I know the drill. I get it.
I couldn’t see any gray plastic tubs to put my stuff in. There wasn’t a single one available. Then I noticed they were all stacked up 15 feet away behind a counter. “Hmm,” I thought. Usually they’re pretty good about bringing them back around to the front. I asked the nearest TSA agent if she would hand me a few and was surprised when she tersely repeated what I had assumed before was just the same old babble. But now I heard it.
“You don’t need a tub. Don’t take anything out of your luggage, keep your shoes and belt on.”
What? They weren’t doing any of the usual checks! The only thing they had us do was empty our pockets, put our bags on the belt, and go through the metal detector (NOT the ‘feet apart, hands above your head,’ revolving door peep-show scan).
I was totally surprised. It was kinda funny to see the TSA folks acting all irritated that some people were still taking off shoes, etc.; as if their organization hadn’t been jack-hammering that very behavior into our heads for 16 years.
I guess it was TSA Pre-Check for everyone that day. And it didn’t seem like they did it because there was a big back-up at the check-point. There wasn’t too much of a line at all. It felt quite odd. Like the curtain had come down and the Security Theater Show was all of a sudden over.
Has anyone else ever had the experience where* all *the passengers were, essentially, sent through the Pre-Check line?