"Follow us," they said, and took me to a neatly tucked away cubicle with two chairs. I sat down in one of the chairs that she directed me to and chuckled to myself. I had heard security was serious on this airline, but this was getting ridiculous. After a barrage of questions (Where do you go to school? What do you study? Isn't finals week this week? What is your girlfriend's name? How long have you been dating? When did you decide to go to Israel? Why are you going to Israel?), I thought that I was in the clear. That was before the airline representative took me to the cubicle. She came back after a few minutes and explained that she was going to have to hold onto my carry-on items until an hour before the flight was to leave. At that time she told me that I needed to come back to pick up my bags and then they would accompany me until I boarded my flight. Sheesh! I hadn't gotten this type of treatment since I was traveling by myself when I was eight years old. However, I knew that rocking the boat would not help the situation so I thanked her kindly and went to find the nearest coffee shop.
I returned to my bags two hours later and sure enough the airline employee led me and another lucky passenger through security and to our gate. At that point, I asked if I could plug in my computer. She allowed it, but would not let me sit a few seats away to charge it! Fortunately, I was able to stretch my cord far enough to move close enough not to stir any trouble. Our flight began to board shortly thereafter and I got on as soon as possible. In retrospect, I guess my story was sufficiently suspicious: a young student traveling with a group of men from all over the country on a religious pilgrimage. I will have to rethink that on the way home.
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