Travel Misadventure
Aug. 7th, 2012 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisThis trip nearly ended in tears.
I left the office around noon, had a quick lunch, refilled the gasoline in the car, drove to SFO airport and dropped off the vehicle, then caught the airport rail service to my terminal. All went smoothly!
Then I discovered my driver’s license was missing. My only form of government-issued photo ID since my passport(s) is/are in the process of being issued/renewed.
I quickly checked the shirt pockets in my luggage: nothing. I checked my backpack: nothing. Mentally retracing my steps, I contact a co-worker to see if he had a telephone number for the Santa Clara data center since I remembered using my license there to sign in. While he didn’t have a number, he was close by so he diverted himself to the SC4 facility while I hopped on a train back to the rental car agency.
The Volkswagen Beetle I had rented was already out for cleaning and being sent to the floor for rental, but the desk folks phoned around to see if the staff had found my license. Nope. They sent another person to inspect the vehicle on the chance it had fallen somewhere truly obscure but no dice.
And just then, my co-worker Allan confirmed my license was indeed at the SC4 data center. I needed to send an email to the Savvis staff asking them to give the license to Allan and absolve them of all responsibility.
Sadly, Verizon Wireless isn’t especially reliable in the greater San Francisco Bay area: their network appears to be severely oversubscribed so my phone has been constantly in & out of service every few minutes, especially data service. Sending an email from my phone was damn near an impossibility but I eventually managed to eke it out.
Even so, there was no way Allan could get my license from Santa Clara to SFO in time for my flight so I went with Plan B: going to the Virgin America desk and asking for their advice. They assured me this wasn’t a big deal, I could present a mittful of other identifiers, typically credit cards, and go through additional security checks but I could board. Thus comforted, I checked my single suitcase and proceeded to security.
Alas, the TSA would let me through but they really, really wanted something with my photo. I had nothing --until I suddenly remembered my data center badge was in my backpack and it has my photo. That and three credit cards got me an escorted express trip past the usual security lines to have a full patdown for myself and a thorough inspection for my backpack. And thus, I made it to my gate with 20 minutes to spare before the regular boarding time.
I almost had yet another anxiety attack when the gate staff announced on the public address system that everyone needed to show their ID again because this is a flight to the DC area. Figures.
Expressing my concern to the desk staff, they recommended I include myself in the group of travelers who infamously need extra time to board, just in case the TSA people at the ramp needed more time to re-check me. I put on my data center badge as a pre-emptive measure and approached the ramp guards, explained I didn’t have any other picture ID but could offer this photo badge and the non-gov’t ID in my wallet. They waived me through immediately.
In the end, I not only made my flight, I bypassed long security lines and was the fourth person to board my plane despite being nominally in boarding group “E”. While I don’t recommend ever taking this procedural path, it has so far ended well.
Allan is going to Fed-Ex my license to me in DC; I’ll breathe easier when it is back in my wallet where it belongs. In the interim, I should investigate some other form of alternate gov’t photo ID to have as a backup.
I left the office around noon, had a quick lunch, refilled the gasoline in the car, drove to SFO airport and dropped off the vehicle, then caught the airport rail service to my terminal. All went smoothly!
Then I discovered my driver’s license was missing. My only form of government-issued photo ID since my passport(s) is/are in the process of being issued/renewed.
I quickly checked the shirt pockets in my luggage: nothing. I checked my backpack: nothing. Mentally retracing my steps, I contact a co-worker to see if he had a telephone number for the Santa Clara data center since I remembered using my license there to sign in. While he didn’t have a number, he was close by so he diverted himself to the SC4 facility while I hopped on a train back to the rental car agency.
The Volkswagen Beetle I had rented was already out for cleaning and being sent to the floor for rental, but the desk folks phoned around to see if the staff had found my license. Nope. They sent another person to inspect the vehicle on the chance it had fallen somewhere truly obscure but no dice.
And just then, my co-worker Allan confirmed my license was indeed at the SC4 data center. I needed to send an email to the Savvis staff asking them to give the license to Allan and absolve them of all responsibility.
Sadly, Verizon Wireless isn’t especially reliable in the greater San Francisco Bay area: their network appears to be severely oversubscribed so my phone has been constantly in & out of service every few minutes, especially data service. Sending an email from my phone was damn near an impossibility but I eventually managed to eke it out.
Even so, there was no way Allan could get my license from Santa Clara to SFO in time for my flight so I went with Plan B: going to the Virgin America desk and asking for their advice. They assured me this wasn’t a big deal, I could present a mittful of other identifiers, typically credit cards, and go through additional security checks but I could board. Thus comforted, I checked my single suitcase and proceeded to security.
Alas, the TSA would let me through but they really, really wanted something with my photo. I had nothing --until I suddenly remembered my data center badge was in my backpack and it has my photo. That and three credit cards got me an escorted express trip past the usual security lines to have a full patdown for myself and a thorough inspection for my backpack. And thus, I made it to my gate with 20 minutes to spare before the regular boarding time.
I almost had yet another anxiety attack when the gate staff announced on the public address system that everyone needed to show their ID again because this is a flight to the DC area. Figures.
Expressing my concern to the desk staff, they recommended I include myself in the group of travelers who infamously need extra time to board, just in case the TSA people at the ramp needed more time to re-check me. I put on my data center badge as a pre-emptive measure and approached the ramp guards, explained I didn’t have any other picture ID but could offer this photo badge and the non-gov’t ID in my wallet. They waived me through immediately.
In the end, I not only made my flight, I bypassed long security lines and was the fourth person to board my plane despite being nominally in boarding group “E”. While I don’t recommend ever taking this procedural path, it has so far ended well.
Allan is going to Fed-Ex my license to me in DC; I’ll breathe easier when it is back in my wallet where it belongs. In the interim, I should investigate some other form of alternate gov’t photo ID to have as a backup.
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-07 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 12:02 am (UTC)Any problem can be solved with enough money. :-)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 01:08 am (UTC)how about your Canadian passport?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 02:59 pm (UTC)(or rather, dispatched all but one of the eggs to inaccessible baskets).
no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-08 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-09 10:07 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, after zooming through special security with my expired Photo License so no need for credit cards, etc., I was actually on the plane when I realized I needed to rent a car when I landed in Boston. No can do with an expired license. Had to get off the plane, and call my housemate who had just gotten home from driving me to the airport. He found my current license, drove back to the airport, gave it to me, and I took a later flight, so late that I ended up staying at the airport Hilton in Boston because I had a long drive to Albany for a 3 pm meeting... bit of a chinese fire drill.
You have my sympathies, glad it all worked out.