I was waiting in line to go through the “security” check and saw the airline . . . → Read More: codes in airports]]> I’m not talking about DaVinci style codes here (unfortunately, otherwise I’d be running around looking for antimatter right now), but rather a peculiar behaviour I noticed from an airline pilot (actually I thought it was a captain, but same thing to me).

I was waiting in line to go through the “security” check and saw the airline employee ahead of me in the queue to my left. As he shoved his belongings through the x-ray detector, he did something remarkable. He took one of these small, round, loose change trays and placed it, upside-down, on the conveyor belt first. You know which trays I’m talking about for sure. The little flat-bottomed, round, plastic pails that look like a slightly flattened and mishandled Charlie Chaplin hat. The airline pilot also placed one, upside-down, on the conveyor belt after his last item. It seemed obvious to me that this was to indicate to whoever was screening his belongings that he actually works here and he’s only going through the exercise because it’s the law and, you know, this is the US and for the safety of our children…

I must say I’m looking forward to my return trip from Nashville on friday. I’ll go out and buy myself a white, airline-looking shirt for the trip back. You bet I’m going to try that trick and see if anything happens or if I get in trouble. It can’t be illegal, really, can it? I’m simply tagging my personal belongings in the machine. Whatever the screener does is up to her/him, right? Exciting to get to probe the inner workings of airport security in a legal manner.

On an unrelated note, I’ve blogged before about the in-flight wifi service by delta. I’m in Denver now (which has free wifi) and it’s definitely slower than what I had in the plane. I can’t watch hulu here unfortunately, while I was able to stream shows semi-decently in the delta flight.

[Update: I stand corrected. The Denver wifi is fast enough for Hulu. It must have been just a temporary glitch. To be fair, this speed is somewhat annoying. The ads are choppy and I have to pause it after every ad to buffer a bit. Still, it's usable. Am watching episode 8 of Kings right now. The camera with the naked pictures of the princess has been stolen. I can't decide if what I like most about this show is the love story or the portrayal of a monarchal america.]