My razor head sans the handle, along with a notice of inspection, courtesy of the TSA                Photo: JL Johnson | AirlineReporter

For years I’ve been a self-described “semi-frequent flyer.” That is, someone who travels just enough to almost make status, but ultimately fall short. Certainly, individual definitions of frequent and semi-frequent will vary, but that’s not the point. Recently, due to a promotion at work, I’m more keen on labeling myself a bona-fide “frequent flyer” now, having low-level status with two airlines.

As I’m spending more time at the airport I’ve learned a simple rule regarding the TSA: With the TSA, expect the unexpected. I have my fair share of stories; the time in Phoenix when I was waved into the Pre-Check line as a non-pre-check, non-premium customer only to stand around and wait as both explosives detection machines were calibrated at the same time. Or, the story about how at 4:30 AM on a Saturday I snapped this terrible photo of a non-existent security line at Kansas City International only to have a First Line (In KC TSA is contracted out to a vendor: First Line) officer in my face, chests touching, ready to fight for “taking his picture.”

And to be clear, the TSA and their First Line contractors here in Kansas City, MO are all human. Mistakes are made, and that’s just the way things go. But these irregularities could never have prepared me for the most recent, almost comical incident I experienced on a trip from KC to San Antonio.