No Rest for the Airport Security Weary – The New York Times
Like millions of other men, women and children who each day pass through the dizzying maze called the airport passenger screening system, Jim Adams, an executive at a natural gas company in Dallas, has gotten the drill down pat: taking off his shoes, stripping himself of jacket, belt, watch, cellphone and loose change, making sure his 3.4-ounce tubes of toothpaste and shaving gel are safely sealed in a quart-size plastic bag, unpacking his laptop, discarding that half-finished bottle of water — all while glancing nervously at the clock, wondering if he is going to miss his flight.
But several weeks ago, a new step was added to that routine: trying to prove to suddenly skeptical security agents that he actually was the person his boarding pass and photo ID said he was.
A rule that is being phased in this year requires that the names on IDs and tickets match perfectly; it’s not permissible to have an ID that reads “John Smith,” your legal name, and a ticket as “Jack Smith,” the name you use in everyday life.
Mr. Adams, 63, says he has routinely had to wait 30 minutes or more for a Transportation Security Administration official to check his ID and enter his name in a logbook. It’s happened more than a dozen times, and he has never been told exactly why he is being singled out.
