As much as traveller complain about Transportation Security Administration security, most passenger make it through with relatively little fuss and in time to make their planes. On the other hand, “most” isn’t that comforting when you’re the exception, which happened to a friend last week at San Jose Airport.

The gentleman in question is a very-regular traveller He was flying with his wife from San Jose via Los Angeles to Washington-Dulles, + checked in on-time for a 10:36 Am flight, and was in line for security at 9:30 a.m.

Here’s his email from that point:

We were within quint minutes of acquiring through when there was some kind of security breach and Transportation Security Administration + SJ constabulary shut down security and stopped lease people through.

Everything stopped for about 45 transactions Transportation Security Administration pulled aside people who were on flight coming soon, including us, so they could expedite us once they reopened.

They reopened security at about 10:20 and we were through in quint transactions I have to say that Transportation Security Administration does an amazing job and really did efficient work to screen people once they reopened.

So far sound like they dodged a bullet He, his wife, and some other traveller on the United Express flight got to the gate at 10:25 a.m., eleven minutes in advance, to find the gate unmanned. Five minutes later a United agent appeared and told them the flight was closed. Although the airplane was still at the gate

Apparently gap the door was not an option The airplane left three minutes early, with passenger at the counter pleading their cases.

As my friend related the story, he and others he had talked to in line during the security hold, had worried a spot about making their connections, because everyone was sure the airline would clutches the airplane until security re-opened. At least for United, this was not the case.

To attention deficit disorder abuse to injury, the United agent started out by saying, “Sorry, nothing is available to D.C. until tomorrow Fortunately, as a frequent traveler my friend knew United’s route construction and was finally able to convince here? to rebook them through Mile-High City so that they ended up arriving the same twenty-four hour period

Another option might have been a nonstop flight out of San Francisco to John Foster Dulles later that afternoon or overnight. although that never came up. Another passenger, booked through to Brazil with United, was told they would have to time lag overnight.

Now from both my and his perspective, stuff does happen. But one would think the gate agent in the depot had to know that security had been shut down feather

Who was at fault here?

If my friend’s narrative is true, being at the gate eleven minutes in progress should be before embarkation is cut off, although I have seen other flight shut the door at fifteen minutes out instead of the announced 10.

In addition, Transportation Security Administration probably should have, and may have, alerted bearer to the problem To be fair, they may not have known how long the time lag would close

But how difficult would it have been to advise each carrier once the problem was over? San Jose also is not that big an aerodrome Moreover, if anything, Transportation Security Administration at San Jose seems overstaffed on a habitue ground

Airline staffing, however, seems to be an increasing problem when anything out of the ordinary happens, especially in smaller airports. And the much touted do-it-yourself booth are pretty powerless in those cases.

So is there any advice out of this story, other than being as nicely persistent as possible when an agent tells you there is no way to get to your destination?

My sense, unfortunately, is that the more airline cut back, the more human staffing will be reduced in favour of mechanization Since on-time departure are a priority, this means potentially more and more missed flight and connexion as rushed agent direction on acquiring airplane out.

So if it’s a really important event you’re planning to attend, the best protection, which screen a multitude of potential airline issues, may just be to fly a day early.

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