No longer on the "No Fly" list, maybe

Well, the good news is I’ve been cleared from the “No Fly” list.  I think.

I’m referring to an October incident in which I was not allowed to print a boarding pass prior to a flight to Memphis. The airline folks said it was something like the “No Fly” list in which a passenger is screened for extra security by the Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Nothing happened except I was inconvenienced by having to check in at the Continental ticket counter. I didn’t go through any extra scrutiny by TSA in the actual screening before the flight. No pat downs, no wands and thankfully no cavity searches. Just take off your shoes. Pull your computer out. And, this was new, take out your CPAP machine, which I use for sleep apnea.

On my return flight to Texas, I had no problem printing a boarding pass.

Later, I found a link on the TSA Web site where one can receive information on how to clear your name if you wind up on a watch list or have something happen which requires added security. It’s called TRIP, appropriately named, not because of the obvious reference to “trip” — as in taking a trip by flying. I think its name fits because the whole experience is a “trip.” Wow man. Far out. Groovy.

You can file your redress request online and you get a “Control Number.” This allows you to track your request, kind of like tracking a package on FedEx but much slower. The only time I tracked my case, it noted that my request had been decided and I would be replied to in writing. That seemed like two months ago.

But lo and behold, I received a letter yesterday from the Department of Homeland Security. It stated:

“In response to your request, we conducted a review of any applicable records in consultation with other Federal agencies, as appropriate. Where it was determined that a correction to records was warranted, these records were modified to address any delay or denial of boarding that you may have experienced as a result of the watch list screening process.”

So that sounds as if the DHS did something concerning my experience, or maybe not. But the department did acknowledge what I “may have experienced” was a result of the “watch list” process. Thus, one would think by that language that they had me on a “watch list.”  Why, I would be watched, I can”t imagine. I’m the dullest person this side of the Sabine River these days. I used to raise hell when I was younger, but I was never what one could call a radical. Well, relatively speaking.

All”s well that ends well, though. Hopefully. The National Security Agency or TSA itself will probably read this and put me back on a watch list, for whatever reason. Or even worse, I’ll be flying somewhere some day and all of a sudden an air marshal will pluck me out of my seat, throw me down on the cabin floor and handcuff me. If that happens, I might know the reason for it in such an instance, or at least part of the reason.

CBS News broke a story a couple of nights ago about what appears to be rampant discrimination in the TSA’s air marshal program. There is a whole list of minorities and other groups the flying cops like to target for some type of hassle or another. On that list are disabled veterans.

Now I’m not a disabled veteran. Well, I’m somewhat disabled due to my medical problems, from chronic pain at least. And I am a veteran. But I am not what is called a disabled veteran in the government sense, also known as “service-connected.” That means the disability was a result of or happened during military service.

I have been looking on the Web and have been unable to find why the air marshals are all up in the air, pun intended, when it comes to disabled veterans. The only possible beef I could think of is that “qualified disabled veterans” receive a 10 percent advantage over people with no military service or service-connected disability when it comes to hiring for a federal job such as air marshal. I don’t know if that is it or not.

However, the CBS report indicated many of the air marshals who were said to be in a snit were former Secret Service agents. That too is a federal job. So I don’t know.

It will be interesting to see if DHS finds anything in their investigation and, if so, will do anything. In the meantime, I am going to try and stay off the watch list, or better yet, stay off airliners.