Order and Efficiency at the Airports: Hats off to TSA

Traveling on Thanksgiving week has proven that we as a nation we can pull together.

The check-in experience at San Francisco International Airport is a a case in point.

My flight to Chicago was scheduled to leave at 6 AM. Arriving at the rental drop off area at 4:20 AM was cutting it rather close.

I took the Air Car over to Terminal 3 and arrived at United at 5PM with a doily filled with luggage. The first thing I noticed was a line of passengers stretching a full city block. I was directed to the luggage counter. I was quickly ticketed as one of the personnel labeled my baggage.

Then at 5:15, I go to the back end of the check-in line with what seems to be 100+ people ahead of me. A quick glance at the boarding tickets indicates that my plane begins boarding at 5:21 in a mere 6 minutes.

Would I be processed in time? I had no doubt!

The line started to move rapidly and by 5:35 I approached the TSA screening area. Here we divided into two lines to speed up the process.

I simple imitated the actions of those people directly in front of me. Grab some plastic trays and place all belongings, cell phone,wallet, ipad, coins, pens, etc in them.

Then off comes my shoes and into the grey bin along with flight bag and then under the x-ray scanner.

Then I go through the metal detector. It goes off. I remove the rest of the few coins that escaped my first attempt to clear my pockets. At the same time, a pleasant screener asks me if my flight bag has a computer. I answer yes and so she removes it saying that computers must always be free standing at the screening area.

And that's it. I seize my camera, heavy topcoat, flight bag, computer and the rest of my belongings. Then shoes are laced up.

It's now 5:45 and I have less than 15 minutes to find my gate. No time to buy a newspaper, I reflect. As I approach the gate an attendant greets me asking if I'm on this flight. As soon as I nod, she responds that I am the last passenger to board the 737.

I made it as I instinctively knew I would...

I settled into my aisle seat at 5:55. As I did, I could not help sensing that the airport personnel all conspired to get me through the gate in time.

We all displayed grace under pressure!