gravitational

surrounded by 20 or so TSA people and two of Chicago's finest, I don't think I was going to ultimately win this battle on the first attempt. ------ Michael

I believe you missed this comment from the original post then: simply put, the supervisor was not educated as he should have been about the gear. If they want to swab, go for it - same as they have the other 2 (looked them up) times I flew with my rig and passed thru security at ORD, or the countless other times I've done the same thing thru ORD in years past. Unfortunately, there was no one in the group of TSA people that had said they'd ever seen a parachute go thru security before and the supervisor I dealt with said that there had never been one carried thru security before at ORD. ------ Michael

I'll let you know when I get the new one. I would assume so. SSK was very quick to respond this morning as was USPA. Kudos to both. ------ Michael

I see to many things that scare me that the TSA lets go on a regular basis. Not this this is my badge of honor but: 158 Flight Segments and 113k miles so far this year. Next flight is tomorrow morning without my rig. ------ Michael

In this particular case it seems (in my opinion) that this would not helped at all. The supervisor had already made up his mind based on the 'old' education he had already rec'd from his old roommate (see original post with email to Ed Scott). ------ Michael

btw...just got an email from SSK and they are sending the latest Cypres card out to me. ------ Michael

I was told that checked or carry on the rig would not fly until the reserve was opened. I also took this as an option that I could also leave with my property and not fly. One thing that I did not do was demand an airline representative - I've got a high enough status with them that they could possibly have been a help. I did call American after this last night as I was unable to locate their policy online. I will be following up today and running it up the flagpole with AA as well to get the written policy as well as suggesting that they put it back online. ------ Michael

It was borderline. I gave the respect and treatment back that I was equally given. As for the TSA being in a 'tight spot' on being responsible for things, I have not had my ID or ticket checked a total of 32 times now this year. Granted, the people that check the ID and tickets are not TSA staff but there is generally a TSA foot soldier nearby watching the process. TSA policy also directs that the metal detector screener is also supposed to double check tickets and this is rarely done with exception to smaller airports from my experience. ------ Michael

This is unfortunately the first time I would have needed it and also the first time I haven't had a copy with me. I don't think it would have saved me though as the apparent decision came from someone higher than the supervisor. No one seemed to have ever seen a parachute go thru ORD from what they had said. ------ Michael

1. My personal Laptop 2. My work Laptop 3. Personal Spare Laptop (soon to eBay if anyone is interested) 4. Production Win2k3 Server 5. Test Win2k3 Server 6. RHEL Server 7. 'Recipe' Computer (in the kitchen no less) 8. Hotspare laptop for company ------ Michael

see my post about my experience yesterday (10.10.2006) USPA is on it though. This is the only time in the last several years that I've had any sort of issue with security. At most it's been a quick swab and I'm off. ------ Michael

Email sent to Ed Scott last night (cc: Central and Mountain Region Directors) and had a prompt response from Ed this morning (Thank you USPA). Will post any further results. Ed – Just emailing to report a TSA training issue that resulted in my reserve having to be opened today. First, the easy items: Airport: O’Hare (ORD) Terminal 3 Checkpoint 7A Supervisor: Thompson Manager: Romano Customer Support: (773) 894-8779 Date: October 10, 2006 Time: Approximately 15:50 Airline: American Airlines (although they were never involved) Flight: 1235 (ORD-DEN) Another name written on the sheet they gave me was Paul Simmons although I’m not sure who this is. (not that it matters, but I was flying first class and I’m top tier with American and have traveled thru ORD several times this year with my rig and this is the first time the TSA has batted an eye) My rig was packed solo with a couple pull up cords in the bag. I advised the screener prior to putting my rig on the belt that he was about to look at a parachute as I’ve found that this has created much less hassle for me than not telling the TSA officers first. My rig was stopped and a supervisor was called over and advised that the rig would not pass based on what he saw. Later prodding determined that it was my Cypres they were interested in. I eventually provided the Cypres card when they finally let my laptop bag go and this only created more ‘concern’ in their minds of an explosive device. After several supervisors looked at the x-ray and several having discussions with me on the operations of the parachute system, they (TSA) decided that if I wanted to take my rig with me today either as carry on (preferred) or checked I would be opening my reserve parachute so they could inspect the Cypres. After several minutes of calmly explaining to them that the reserve was packed by an FAA rated parachute rigger, etc. etc. etc., the supervisor advised me that he had a roommate ‘way back when’ that jumped and he was convinced that the Cypres contained an explosive device because that’s what his roommate told him. Based on the idiocy of the supervisors statement and my obvious reluctance to ‘toss my gear’, I opened the reserve and was immediately told to stand away from the rig. I advised the TSA supervisor that he was not allowed to touch the gear until I could carefully pull the reserve out so he could gain access the Cypres control unit. The supervisor reluctantly agreed and I carefully pulled the reserve out enough so that he could swab the unit. Several other (about 20) supervisors came over and were asking questions and I again explained how the system worked and the desire to have an AAD in the event of a loss of awareness situation. I remained calm but stern in my desire to not have the reserve opened and extremely stern that they not touch anything in the reserve tray without first asking as this would obviously be my last chance. The swab returned negative and I was sent on my way – now having to pay the expense of a repack due to what seemed to be grossly inadequate training. The supervisor did acknowledge that the Cypres card did provide all of the appropriate information that he needed, but the x-ray picture on the back (my card is 1999 vintage) was ‘crap’. ------ Michael

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depends on if their ego fits in their 10 gallon cowboy hat or not. I've had both extremes. Generally when I'm in TX working most of the people are fine. When I'm at home dealing with them as a tourist where I live, texans and californians are the worst. ------ Michael

I just need to say that you made my day (as written from the AA Admirals Club in Dallas). ------ Michael

I'm sure of that too, it just never comes across that way here unfortunately. Sometimes it better to type the whole thing out and not hit 'post reply'. This is something we all probably need to learn to do sometimes. ------ Michael

plan and take a trip for 'me' with the luxury of leaving my cell phone, laptop and anything else with a connection to the outside world at home and leave it where no one can find me. ------ Michael

There are many that are on these forums that make their weekly, biweekly, etc. commute to the airport to fly off to their jobs. I am one of them. The topic of this thread was to see where the road warriors stood on their elite status with their various travel vendors. Yes, Peter has toys. So do I - although not to the extent that Peter does. There are some here that have more than he does too. You missed the point of the topic though - what is your elite status with your travel vendors? you don't have one? Sometimes I wish I didn't. Move on...next thread. btw, I'm assuming you've missed the thread where Peter is giving Skymama the keys to his pad in NYC for her vacation while he is out of town? There are people that impress me on the forums, there are others that just annoy me. Some on here have no life beyond what they do here it seems. back to ripping music and booking flights so I can spend even more days away from home not sleeping in my bed and enjoying my home in the place where I chose to buy and enjoy it... ------ Michael

Show off. When you get to the top, you can attain the top of the others easily by calling, speaking to the right person and telling them you're looking at switching to them. they will put you at the top to get your business. 20% of the travelers account for 80% of the business. Which group do you think gets taken care of better? ------ Michael

AA - Executive Platinum (Requalified for 2007 in 5 months ) Hertz - Presidents Circle (In my profile to never give me a car that my grandparents would drive - aka Grand Marquis) Marriott - Platinum I've flown a few others this year but not too much to really qualify for anything. I do have to say that I finally flew my 7th trip on Continental this year and, amazingly, they didn't lose my luggage (the other 6 trips they lost my luggage). It may have helped that I didn't check anything though so I will have to give them a little credit. ------ Michael

yeah...definite thanks on the link. Will give me another site to waste some billable time on. ------ Michael

No smoking now in any of the marriotts. good move on their part in my opinion. I hate getting the last 'non-smoking' room where the previous tenant chain smoked. and you all are wimps: Marriott - Level: Platinum Nights this year: 109 This doesn't include any nights in other hotels chains in cities that didn't have marriotts. ------ Michael

I like the math, but all my starbucks goes on my expense report so I'm out nada. ------ Michael

Try Shade - http://houston.citysearch.com/profile/40838602. I've been there several times on my trips to H-Town and it came highly recommended from my CEO. One of his friends is also the head chef. ------ Michael

I don't live there but I've been commuting there several times a month for over a year now. I avoid hotels in the medical district as the crime rate is very high. The Galleria area is nice as well as West U. Houston has not gone through its housing boom yet, but some areas (West U, Galleria) have appreciated so I've been told. Restaurants? There are plenty to choose from and most that I've been to are very good. For Sushi, I drive out to Sushi Jin at Dairy Ashford and Memorial - worth the drive and best I've had in town so far. (a good sign is to eat there later at night and there are several sushi chef's there for a late dinner). A good Irish pub is Keneallys (sp? - I can't find a receipt) on Shephard. They make a kick ass thin crust pizza too (and I'm more of a Chicago pie pizza guy). Across the street is the Red Lion, an English pub. Downtown good hangouts (I can't think of the name - locals help me out) is a small bar/tailor shop. Yes, you can order your finest brew and also get fitted for a shirt. Edit to add - and yes, traffic does suck. The first lesson I would recommend is to discover the secret to the HOV lanes. Most of them (in my experience) you have to get off the highway to get on. ------ Michael