You know you’re back down South when you go to the Country Club to play golf and the parking lot is full of pickup trucks and SUVs and there is NOT a single Mercedes or BMW in sight… 🙂
And another instance was watching an auto parts dealer come in at 0700 and open the store for one guy to come get a part for his wife’s car… and not being grouchy about it…
In other news…
It’s that time of year…
If you’re traveling with “stuff” that potentially get ‘disappeared’ at the airport, you need to be careful; especially late at night. Â Myself and a couple of others had a ‘situation’ this past weekend at IAD with “missing” bags at 2300 on a Sunday night.
Three sets of golf clubs and two high dollar mountain bikes didn’t come out of the oversized luggage chute, even though we’d gotten our regular suitcases.
We were all waiting for appx an hour (IAD can be S.L.O.W). Â Myself and the two hubbys went over to the baggage claim office and low and behold, ALL of our bags had been scanned in at the airport.
It was the usual drill of fill out the paperwork, etc… BUT I was pissed and decided to press the issue, so I told the baggage lady I wanted a police officer to respond, and I wanted to file a stolen articles report.  She was trying to dissuade me when the other two guys chimed in and agreed.  She asked us to wait and disappeared into the back room, and suddenly we had the ‘supervisor’ trying to calm us down.  Meanwhile, one of the guys had  called the airport police and had them responding…
When the supervisor heard that, HE disappeared and we heard radios start squawking in the back room. Â The officer showed up, Â and he wanted to know if we’d actually checked both oversized luggage areas (yes), had we been waiting without going anywhere else (yes, we’d all been standing at the carousel and oversized the whole time), then he started asking the supervisor questions…
We walked back down to the oversized luggage, the supervisor and the police officer confirmed with the two wives that nothing had happened (and asked if I’d been there the whole time too) then they disappeared into the bowels of the airport and about 10 minutes later, ‘mysteriously’ all five oversized bags popped out…
All our bags had been on a single luggage cart, sitting in the storage area… Now THIS is where it gets interesting, none of us were on the same flight!!!
Was somebody planning on stealing our stuff??? Â Possible, since both golf clubs and bikes are easily pawned, and normally they are not ‘registered’ per se, so it’s hard to prove whom they belong to…
And talking to LEOs I know, they said it’s “typical” for golf clubs and bikes to start showing up in pawn shops as folks try to get money for Christmas presents.
And last but not least, if you’re a road warrior and you’re not in TSA Pre-check, it IS worth the effort.  Don’t get the porn scanner, don’t have to take off shoes, belts, jackets, empty the bag, etc.  And even if you don’t select on a particular day, you  go through a special screening area that actually has POLITE TSA folks.
And another instance was watching an auto parts dealer come in at 0700 and open the store for one guy to come get a part for his wife’s car… and not being grouchy about it…
In other news…
It’s that time of year…
If you’re traveling with “stuff” that potentially get ‘disappeared’ at the airport, you need to be careful; especially late at night. Â Myself and a couple of others had a ‘situation’ this past weekend at IAD with “missing” bags at 2300 on a Sunday night.
Three sets of golf clubs and two high dollar mountain bikes didn’t come out of the oversized luggage chute, even though we’d gotten our regular suitcases.
We were all waiting for appx an hour (IAD can be S.L.O.W). Â Myself and the two hubbys went over to the baggage claim office and low and behold, ALL of our bags had been scanned in at the airport.
It was the usual drill of fill out the paperwork, etc… BUT I was pissed and decided to press the issue, so I told the baggage lady I wanted a police officer to respond, and I wanted to file a stolen articles report.  She was trying to dissuade me when the other two guys chimed in and agreed.  She asked us to wait and disappeared into the back room, and suddenly we had the ‘supervisor’ trying to calm us down.  Meanwhile, one of the guys had  called the airport police and had them responding…
When the supervisor heard that, HE disappeared and we heard radios start squawking in the back room. Â The officer showed up, Â and he wanted to know if we’d actually checked both oversized luggage areas (yes), had we been waiting without going anywhere else (yes, we’d all been standing at the carousel and oversized the whole time), then he started asking the supervisor questions…
We walked back down to the oversized luggage, the supervisor and the police officer confirmed with the two wives that nothing had happened (and asked if I’d been there the whole time too) then they disappeared into the bowels of the airport and about 10 minutes later, ‘mysteriously’ all five oversized bags popped out…
All our bags had been on a single luggage cart, sitting in the storage area… Now THIS is where it gets interesting, none of us were on the same flight!!!
Was somebody planning on stealing our stuff??? Â Possible, since both golf clubs and bikes are easily pawned, and normally they are not ‘registered’ per se, so it’s hard to prove whom they belong to…
And talking to LEOs I know, they said it’s “typical” for golf clubs and bikes to start showing up in pawn shops as folks try to get money for Christmas presents.
And last but not least, if you’re a road warrior and you’re not in TSA Pre-check, it IS worth the effort.  Don’t get the porn scanner, don’t have to take off shoes, belts, jackets, empty the bag, etc.  And even if you don’t select on a particular day, you  go through a special screening area that actually has POLITE TSA folks.
JFC.
Funny how things change when someone with a badge and gun shows up.
Good for you, man!
The robbery we normally tolerate doesn’t stop at politics.
I’d be surprised there wasn’t video surveillance to actually catch thief(s). If there was an interest in getting the union member who thoughtfully aggregated your possessions for you.
With all the BS that goes on at the airport and the idiots you have to deal with, if the trip is 12 hours or less, I’ll drive.
Thankfully I don’t have to fly for business.
Good for you. Wonder if there wasn’t a bit of “leadership” involved getting the other passengers involved.
Good for you! And I hope there were other people around to hear the whole thing.
Thanks folks… 🙂
Another reason I don’t fly, along with the “I don’t want a colonoscopy because you’re not my doctor” thing.
BZ
BZ- Good point…
Chuck an unloaded $75 stage prop blank-only “gun” in a hardcase in your golf bag’s zipped compartment. Under federal rules, you have to “declare a firearm”.
Bags with declared firearms RARELY “get lost”, because the airlines and TSA get all hot and bothered over Deh Ebbul Gunz Armin’ Deh TERRERIZTZ!11!ELEVENTY!
I’m thinking that Geodkyt has just found a use for old Lorcims and Ravens.
“Polite TSA folks”?
Is that even possible?