Welcome To Florence

I stumbled onto what could have been an incredible opportunity. I fortuitously flew into Florence, SC in route to Myrtle Beach to do a site visit for our MOVE event at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach coming up in June. What I didn’t know was that Florence is located 7 miles from Darlington, SC. To most that is meaningless, but this week that is where NASCAR nation is headed. I had no idea the track was that close. Had I known, I’d have been trying to catch a later flight out so that I could at least see the Cup cars practice or something. But alas there was no time for that, I never even got close enough to see the track.

But the real story here is the experience in the Florence airport. Think JIA with a snack bar. I guess technically it’s twice the size of JIA – 2 airlines, 2 gates, 4 rental car companies. I walked up to the security check point, just over an hour from flight time only to be told that they weren’t checking people in for that flight yet. It was like the usher at the movie theater telling you that they’re not seating for your movie yet because the previous one isn’t out. He of course waited until I had my shoes off, liquids, camera and laptop all out and in bins before asking which airline (didn’t even have to ask which flight) I was on.

So I grabbed my stuff and took a seat adjacent to the checkpoint. 10 or so minutes later I was back at the checkpoint – this time waiting in line – as I began the slowest security screening I’ve ever seen – including times when I’ve had my stuff “selected” for additional screening. The woman two people in front o f me tried to carry a 10-12oz. body spray or something on and was irritated like crazy when the guy told her she could take it back to her car, have Delta retrieve her checked luggage, or throw it away. “There goes $15…” she said as she tossed it (there’s always a trashcan conveniently located right there. By the time she got to the other end of the screening machine she was asking for the quart size Ziploc I’d offered her once already because they’d found something else (lotion this time I think and it was way larger than 3.4oz., but they were letting it go, and who really picked 3.4oz. as the allowable size? Are there products produced in that actual size? And is that a container size limit or can a larger container that isn’t full pass? And if so, who measures the amount and can they do it without ruining my shampoo? Anyone get the idea I think that 3.4oz. thing is random and not really keeping us safer? But I digress.).

Minutes later when I got to the other end of the screening machine I realized that the same lady that was watching things move through on the conveyor was also the one in charge of opening anything that didn’t look quite right. The guy at the other end was simply there to pre-screen (weed out those pesky liquids over 3.4oz.)

Now, they were nice, southern hospitality type of people, but it’s a darn good thing they only deal with 50 passengers at a time in very regular intervals or they would back up the entire commercial air system (you know how those things domino, Florence backs up the ATL, throws a wrench in O’Hare, and suddenly all planes are grounded nationwide).

I did do something on this trip that I don’t normally do. I refrained from checking a bag. Most of my trips don’t allow me that option – too many days to get away without a checked bag. I don’t really like having to drag all my stuff around airports with me, so even when I might be able to not check I tend to anyway to avoid the hassle of being so bulky and encumbered moving around whatever major airport(s) I’m flying through (10 hours of dragging all my stuff vs. 15 minutes waiting at baggage claim). The upside of course is that they can’t very well lose my luggage since it’s with me and when I hit the ground in Tulsa I’ll be out in my car before most of the people find their way to baggage claim – never mind waiting on their bags to eventually appear.