Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Darron Derrick missed his plane out of Tampa International. He says it’s because the Transportation Security Administration uses “Nazi-style, police-state tactics.”

At the X-ray machine, he placed his laptop inside its case on the belt and went through the metal detector. An officer informed him the computer and case had to go through again separately. That’s when Derrick, frustrated and anxious, made his unfortunate vent.

He says that after explaining it wasn’t personal, he told the supervisor that screeners were going to make him late for the plane by using “Nazi-style, police-state tactics.”

The TSA officer didn’t like that at all, and sent him to get a body pat-down and a scan with a hand-held metal detector. Darron refused to give his phone number, and refused a private room for the pat-down. Airport police escorted him out. He’s angry:

“I didn’t go in there and yell ‘terrorist.’ It’s the system. Everyone’s treated like a criminal,” he says. “It’s dehumanizing.”

There are plenty of reasons to be upset with “the system.” But this small delay is not one of them. Back at the beginning of the story:

Derrick was very late for his flight to Detroit. He checked in 38 minutes before the scheduled departure and found a long, snaking line to the security checkpoint at Airside A. Derrick asked a line attendant if he could move ahead of others. She ignored him.

Darron is a smart guy - he’s an engineer (a Google search uncovered this local engineer Darron Derrick and a Ron Paul supporter with the same name). You would think he knows that you can’t show up at the last minute to catch a flight. Conventional wisdom says to get there two hours beforehand, and Tampa International recommends you show up 90 minutes before your flight:

Arriving at least 90 minutes prior to scheduled departure allows for 60 minutes to proceed through screening and arrive at the gate 30 minutes before departure.

That’s the system, and Darron chose to ignore it. The screeners did not “make him late” - he started out late. I’m not sure how you can expect everyone to facilitate YOUR personal plans because YOU didn’t get there until the last minute. Man up, Darron.

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