The other side of the coin

The TSA in action at Denver.

Dick Trail/Courtesy photo

There are many sides to aviation but your columnist likes the view out of the front of the airplane best. In all fairness though a ride in the back, the passenger compartment, was a bit eye opening.

Join me as I “enjoyed” a flight out of the really busy Denver Airport back to our small but friendly airport here at McCook. My son, and family from California, dropped me off at the southeast corner of the futuristic Elrey B. Jeppesen passenger terminal at Denver International Airport. To me that marvelous building is still new but I found it in a state of reconstruction. I guess that is called progress even though a bit unhandy. I looked down on the mass of people being processed through TSA’s security. Daunting but I dove in. Back and forth through about six lanes of guidance not unlike the lines at Disneyland.

Finally to the front of the line I showed the documents printed off when our son purchased my ticket. No bar code! Well then I tried to pull up the reference to my ticket on my cell phone to be scanned as most of the passengers before me were doing. No dice. The nice TSA man sent me to the Boutique Airline desk to be checked in and receive my boarding pass. Up another level and clear to the northeast corner of the terminal. That is one big building!

I found it and the friendly clerk processed my info and gave me a boarding pass just as I should have done when dropped off in the first place. Back down stairs to brave the whole TSA ordeal again. This time it worked. Empty your pockets and put it all in a basket to be X-rayed. Old people have an advantage — we don’t have to remove our shoes. Then through the body scanner. “Do you have any metal in your body (titanium hip joints) was the question?” I passed and reloaded my pockets and iPad carrying case. Then off to the automated, no driver, subterranean train ride to my terminal.

Being of a conservative bent I chose to proudly wear my red MAGA, Make America Great Again, ball cap. “I like your hat” was the surprising comment directed to me from absolute strangers, mostly men. In my heart I knew that many were also offended by my display but to a person those of a liberal bent either ignored my arrogant display or just looked the other way. Not a pejorative comment all day.

The long walk was good healthy exercise and I had plenty of time anyway. Moving walkways and escalators are a big help too but the whole place is designed for healthy travelers. Lots of shops for books, magazines, food and drink along the way but none of which caught my fancy this trip.

Interesting people waiting to board flights in Boutique’s waiting room. A mom traveling from Boulder to Durango to spend a couple days with her sons 9 years and 11. They were spending the summer at her parent’s ranch. Riding horses, fishing and grandpa had made them a bucking horse simulator—a 50 gal drum painted up and suspended with four ropes. Mom was concerned that they’d be hurt if they fell off but isn’t that the name of the game?

Two more attractive ladies, cousins and a little more mature, headed to McCook and a family reunion. Koch the family name, and Henry and Della were there to pick them up on arrival. Another 20/30 year old lady traveling from Durango to McCook on her way to Hastings. Much cheaper to ride Boutique than flying in to Omaha. She didn’t know that Hastings had an airport and her friend picking her up was surprised that McCook had an airport. *Note to self—strive to better get the word out to the traveling public on the plusses of using McCook’s excellent Airport.

Passengers departing Denver walk out on the bare ramp to Boutique’s awaiting aircraft. We were greeted by the flight crew who both looked about 16 years old. I know better as they had to be in their twenties to acquire enough experience to qualify to fly that excellent Part 135 airliner. Both conducted themselves very professionally and they couldn’t have given us a better ride to our destination.

In retrospect I have ridden Boutique departing from McCook and that is a much more pleasant experience. The difference is TSA where here the number of TSA and airline personnel generally outnumber the passengers in contrast to the hordes of passengers that the efficient TSA personnel have to deal with in Denver.

That is our world today, maximum inconvenience demanded by the threat of malcontents trying to kill us. Oh to dream of a better world. “Like your hat!”

That is how I saw it.

__ Dick Trail