I have been going by my middle name for almost my entire life. For the purposes of this story, let’s say my name is Robert James Smith, and everyone calls me James. 

This has usually not been a problem as long as I have my ID. Over the past few years, I’ve become a frequent flyer. TSA has never raised an eyebrow if my boarding pass says “James Smith” or “R. James Smith”.

Until this time. 

When we finally get to the TSA agent, she eyeballs me, my photo ID, my boarding pass, and then me again, as usual. She starts to wave me through but then stops herself. 

Agent: “Hold on a moment.”

She walks off, whispers to another agent for a bit, and then returns. 

Agent: “So, unfortunately, we can’t let you board today.”

Me: “What? Why?”

Agent: “This isn’t your name. I can’t confirm that you’re the correct passenger.”

She points to the boarding pass, which lists “James Smith”.

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I go by my legal middle name, James. See, my photo ID says Robert James Smith.”

Agent: “It doesn’t matter. It may as well be a different name. You might as well be Joshua instead of James. You’re a completely different person.”

I don’t quite know how to respond to that given I look just like my photo ID, which has my full name, but I know better than to argue with a TSA agent.

Me: *Sighing* “Okay, how can I fix this?”

The agent looks surprised, as though she genuinely expected me to give up my flight and walk away. 

Agent: “I guess you’ll have to go back to the check-in counter and get them to reprint your boarding pass. Then just come find me when you’re done.”

I race back to my airline counter and explain the situation. 

Airline Employee: “Wait, what?! That’s ridiculous. Your name is right there on your ID. It looks like we just left off the first legal name.”

Me: “I know. James is my preferred name. I should have put my full name on the boarding pass, but this has never been a problem before.”

Airline Employee: “I’m honestly not sure how to fix this. Hang on.”

They end up having to call over another employee.

Airline Employee #2: “TSA is saying he can’t board because the name is wrong? That’s crazy. It’s not like the pass says Joshua and his ID says James.”

I couldn’t help but facepalm at that point. They spent another twenty minutes trying to figure out how to change my name in the system. At long last, they succeeded, and I thanked them and rushed back to security with my new pass. 

The first TSA agent was gone. When I got to the front of the line, the new agent barely glanced at my ID before waving me on.

I almost missed my flight, but I learned my lesson. And my spouse and I now joke, “You might as well be Joshua instead of James,” whenever one of us is confused.

I was once working in an airport, boarding a plane alone, and I had just started the boarding announcement. I looked at the screen and saw there were only two passengers on that flight. Then, I glanced up and saw two people there.

I stopped giving the announcement.

Me: “Since you’re both here, there’s no point in continuing!”

I then boarded them while the three of us laughed at the situation.

My mom was a US Customs inspector. One of the things they’d look for was people who didn’t have enough luggage for the amount of time they said they’d be in the country; it was a sign they were lying about what they’d be doing or how long they’d be here.

One time a supermodel came through with one normal-sized bag for a two-week trip. That looked odd.

Mom: “Could you open your bag, please?”

The supermodel did so. Her bag contained a small amount of clothes.

Supermodel: “I can mix and match these enough to have a different outfit every day. All I need is a hotel laundry and I’m set!”

I got stuck in the giant plane mess-up in December of 2022. The airline did not inform us of the delays or the cancelation until an hour or so before the flight even though they KNEW way before that. We could have just stayed at our hotel for a day or two, but instead, we were stuck at the airport.

More recently at the airport, an [Airline] flight attendant decided she worked for Border Control and denied my spouse — a legal permanent resident — entry on a flight because his green card had been broken in half (long story). We showed her the paperwork stating that it was legal and the paperwork stating that we were in the process of replacing the card and that we had traveled with it before.

The flight attendant refused to listen and canceled the ticket at the gate, but she did not for the connecting flights, so we appeared as a no-show on said flights.

We left and went back to my in-laws’ house where we’d been visiting, and we ended up booking a flight on a different airline. We’re still fighting to get [Airline] to give us a refund and take accountability.

My father used to travel a lot for work. Years ago, he had a flight that made it back to his home airport in Houston, but by the time it landed, the weather there was so bad that all the freeways surrounding the airport were closed. My father (and many other stranded passengers) spent the night in the airport’s Presidents Club.

Enough stranded passengers ended up in the Presidents Club that they had to close and lock the doors when the club reached its maximum occupancy. There were still passengers who came up, saw the closed and locked door, and rattled or banged on the door in an effort to get inside. The employees would open the door just long enough to say, “See the sign that says we’re at maximum occupancy? We’re not joking,” and then they’d shut and lock the door again.

Unfortunately, the weather also meant that the club employees couldn’t leave when their shift was over, nor could their replacements come to take their places. At a certain point, a lot of the stranded passengers, including my father, told the staff, “You go rest. Just show us where things are, and we’ll make our own drinks and snacks.”

Then, of course, you had the passengers who were highly affronted that the paid staff should get to rest, and the stranded passengers should take care of themselves. “I’m a Presidents Club member! You’re supposed to take care of me, not the other way around!”

Most of the passengers were perfectly content to take care of themselves, and they ignored the passengers who whined.