Long before a handful of religious "hatefuls" schemed to take down the Twin Towers, we had a "run-in" with American Airlines and their check-in system. Unlike the "nitwits" who acted like American's check-in ladies, I can honestly tell you that it wasn't that easy to get on one of their planes. So, ... here is my story, only difference is, this actually happened.
As an "In Home Short Term Delinquent Shelter," the juvenile judge had a run-away teenager sent to our house. She was 16 years old. The teen had a boyfriend who was much older than her, and he owned a decent sized rap sheet. Her parents wanted her back home, immediately, if not sooner.
It seems her boyfriend's cousin was getting married so she up and walked out of their house, school, and state and ended up down here. The girl, also, had planned on staying in Oklahoma with her boyfriend. The juvenile workers had to wait two days, to get the tickets, and I was supposed to get her on the American Airlines the next day at 2 PM.
We arrived in plenty of time and, with my girl in tow, we went to the check-in line. It was our turn.
"Let me see your ticket." She reads the ticket information and looks at the girl.
"Can I have some ID, please; something with your picture on it."
"I don't have an ID." The teenager wore short jeans that were cut-off just below her buttocks and her tank top, hit her just under her breasts.
"Then we can't let you on. We don't know if this ticket is actually yours, and we need proof of identification."
"I don't have any," the girl repeated. A big problem! Anybody who looked at her, could tell she wasn't hiding a bill-fold, a purse, or an ID. Sooo, Brother Dale takes action.
"Come over here, " I ordered the check-in lady. "This girl is a runaway, and she will be on that plane. When she lands in Indiana, her parents will be waiting for her. Your job is to get her on that plane and make sure she doesn't get off the plane until the plane lands in Indiana."
So, ... do you think the check-in ladies got it?
Better believe it. They stamped her ticket, and one of them walked us to our terminal. The lady at the terminal had been notified. So we were treated like First Class. When the plane was ready for passengers, the ticket lady made sure we were boarded first. Well, ... not so fast. They let her on, and told me that I COULDN"T get on, since I didn't have a ticket.
I pulled the ticket taker aside and said, "Listen, I have promised this girl that I will take pictures of her in the inside of the cockpit with the pilots, and I am going to keep that promise." I had taken pictures of her walking into Will Rogers Airport, took pictures of her at the check in, and took pictures of her looking at planes at the terminal. My way or the highway!
Yep, ... they let me in, and the pilots were great, and I took some great pictures of her in cockpit. This was long before digitals. That was it. They compromised and let me in just behind the pilots, and I left. Then I took pictures of the plane flying out, into the skies.
Once I had the film developed, I sent one set to their address, and we kept the other set. My address was on the envelope, so I "kind of" expected to get a card or a telephone thank you. They didn't. So I called them to see if she got home safely and if they received the envelope. Daddy was not nice to me, a guy who did him a favor.
Is a 34 year retired educator with a Masters Degree in Counseling - a free-lance writer with articles in Spanish and English Guideposts, Mothering, Oklahoma Observer, Oklahoma Gazette, Westview, Oklahoma Reader, The Lookout, Christian Standard ... . The author has the largest number of published "letters" in the history of Time magazine and NEA Today. Just had an LTTE in NEWSWEEK in December, 2007. Dale W. Hill is married with 5 children, 4 grand-children, one foster child, and 4 foster grandchildren. He and his wife, Marcella, live near Anadarko, Oklahoma, at which school he retired in 2002. Hill is a computer collector, writer, and musician. Hill is a historian of Country Music, with 1972 Ovation and Martin BackPacker guitars. Favorite diatonic harmonica is a Hohner Special 20 and all chromatics, that "...scream The Blues!!"
As a "private airport security screener" before 9/11...the Airlines always had the last word....private security pre-board companies were sub contractors hired by the airlines on a "low bid" contract..the subcontractors hired the screeners..subcontractors were paid as much as 30.00 to 35.00 "per head" and the screeners were hired by the sub contractors at minimum wage...but essentially the screeners themselves had no authority...we were either "overseen" by FAA or "overridden" by the airlines themselves, not to mention our own "sub contracting security Company"...pre-board screeners were overridden many times on "dangerous objects" allowed on board by the Airlines, who were concerned more about revenues, consumer relations and profits, than actual security....almost 90% of the original private pre-board screeners were "fired" by TSA who in actuality were really just FAA, under a different name...we were promised our jobs, we were promised a "bonus" if we stayed to the "end", (when we would all become TSA employees) we were lied to....when it got right down to the "testing", the private security screeners were not allowed to test until after all the other persons were hired, trained and deployed..(into out jobs) (these new hires, were in most cases friends, relatives or "special interests" of the TSA, in each airport) Do you have any idea how it feels to be doing your job right next to those who are being trained (right in front of you)to take over your job at a higher wage than what you are being paid...and to be told "don't talk to them, don't even look their way, or else!!" Knowing that in a few short weeks you probably won't have a job..we weren't that stupid...we could tell by how many there were that there would be no jobs left for us...even though we hadn't been allowed to even "apply or test" yet.
We were not even allowed to fill out the applications the same as the persons "off the street" were allowed too....we were told we must apply through a special internet site set up for us...this "site" had so many bugs in it, it would go down, half way through an application, and you would have to start all over, or it would not accept your social security number, or it would not verify your application, in some cases we could not even get "into" the site because it was "jammed"... I am sure that our 1991 civil rights were violated, as we were harassed, intimidated, and the hiring practices were definitely "with prejudice" We tried to get some help from EEOC, no dice, we didn't all fit into their definition of age, race, religion critique, no Lawyers would talk to us unless we could get our "test results" from NCS Pearson (who has been sued many times for bogus scoring) or TSA (classified "top secret", now) there has been one small group of Oregon private screeners (17) who managed to sue NCS Pearson and won, but no one seems interested in a larger suit, representing all of us...no one paid us any mind..we were deemed "burger flipping morons" and basically the FAA/TSA put the blame for 9/11 on us...now it comes out that FAA was less than truthful with the 9/11 Commission.....we are told that we can't fight government, that its to late, (statute of limitations) that we should just "get over it"..oh yeah..my "bonus" was about $200.00...and a long time before I managed to find gainful employment...(if you can call minimum wage, gainful)..almost 18,000 private screeners lost every thing they owned, lost their homes, lost their cars, lost their spouses, lost respect, became depressed, became desperate.....and not one person came to our defense, not one person said..hey, if a policeman in Boston screws up, should we fire all the police in the whole country..? Or how about, "we already have 28,000 private screeners, lets give them some of that extra "training" and save money, we have already done the back ground tests on most of them, any way"...Do I trust this government or any government to do the right thing..? Would you?
by
Susan Nelsen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 276 comments)
on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 1:55:53 PM
It obviously was! I would say our girl was with us 1988. It sounds like much of your nonsense was government baloney and not American Airlines' problem. I will never forgive Reagan for firing all the air-traffic professionals.
CNN has an ongoing investigation over FAA and all the checkers, which they claim to be much like our Southern border.
May I quote you. I have rightwing Republican brother, who doesn't believe things such as this, happens in the US.
I believe the Military, put corn cobs up one of their orifices when they kicked out the 200 Arab Speaking gays. My brother went through that, and speaks 5 languages, living in Thailand. Our emails are more slams, than anything. Hee, hee. He has told me how grueling the school was, and it may have made our occupation successful, rather than the way it is now. He is like 15 emails ahead of me!! I answer when I feel like it; afterall, there should be some kind of rules on our behavior.
Dale
by
Dale Hill (58 articles, 0 quicklinks, 102 diaries, 347 comments)
on Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 3:50:39 PM
2 comments
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