Following the Rules

Last week I was boarding a flight on Southwest at the Midway Airport in Chicago. I had noticed an attractive 30'ish couple in front of me in the A 16-20 space. Once boarding was announced, the female of the couple moved over to the over "31-60" side of the columns. We began boarding in numerical order. When "he" arrived at the point to hand his boarding pass to the attendant, he had TWO roller bags. He told the ticket taker that the second bag belonged to his associate who was behind him in line.

The ticket taker told him his associate would need to board with her own bag as he could only board with one, as required by TSA regulations. He said they always boarded with him taking her bag and they did it as such every week with no problem. The ticket taker said while the process may have worked for him in the past, this week they were going to follow the rules because she was not going to be responsible for the non-compliance with TSA regulations.

Needless to say, this did not make him happy.

He again asked why she would not let him take his 'friend's' bag on and was told that the 'friend' would need to board with her own bag because that was the what the regulations required.

He said, "That's not a good enough reason."

She said, ......and I loved it......" Maybe so, but that is the best answer you are going to get and you are only boarding with ONE bag and a personal item."

At that point, they waved me on by and I didn't get to observe the rest of the altercation. I wanted to tell the flight attendant to let the 'ticket taker' how proud I was of her..... but believe it or not, the fellow chose the seat across the aisle from me. When his female 'associate' finally boarded they had a heck of a time finding a place for her carry on bag.

Gosh, life can sure be complicated when you are forced to follow the rules.