Nearly a month ago, I told you about my experience getting through a major airport with the Vyalev pump and supplies, specifically flying from Charlotte (CLT) to Des Moines (DSM). As I noted then, I expected the TSA folks at the major airport that is CLT to know exactly what to do (and they did), but I was concerned about the TSA folks at the much less major airport that is actually known as “Des Moines International”. Now let’s hear…The Rest of the Story.

I did not call TSA beforehand for the return trip; I didn’t have to. When I called about the CLT to DSM flight, TSA’s system automatically notified their folks at CLT and DSM of both the outbound and return flights. Unlike the Charlotte TSA folks, the Des Moines TSA’ers actually tried to get ahold of me prior to the flight and left me a voicemail message. The man who left the message said that he’d let his team know when I was expected and what I needed. Either this didn’t actually happen or his team ignored him. Here’s what actually happened…

As before, I notified American Airlines of my situation via their web site. This time, I went directly to the customer service counter to check my big bag. And as before, American Airlines moved me way up the boarding order to guarantee I could find overhead space for my medical supplies bag, which I did. After my bag had been checked, a wheelchair and pusher arrived and took me to the TSA Checkpoint. At the checkpoint, I did as the voicemail from DSMs TSA had told me to do – I told the agent who was checking IDs that I had called in advance and that I needed special screening. This seemed to fluster him a bit; after checking my ID, he just instructed me to tell my story to one of the officers at the scanning machines. This was nearly a problem, as those officers weren’t aware of my situation either, and I was having a surprising amount of difficulty answering their questions. Eventually, one of them said, “Oh, wait! You’re requesting a manual pat-down.” I confirmed this, just to avoid any further unrest.

Now folks, when you request a manual pat-down from the TSA, it’s nothing life the self-pat-down I performed for my flight from CLT into DSM. This is serious stuff.; they was inspectin’ and injectin’ every single part of me, and they was leavin’ no part untouched. But I got through it all OK, and the pusher proceeded to push me to my gate. Nothing worth mentioning happened during my flight. Well. OK, World War 3 happened. But nothing else worth mentioning.

When I stepped out onto the Jetway at CLT, I was surprised to see someone holding up a sign (actually an iPad) with my name on it – just like in the movies! I introduced myself and said that I didn’t need a wheelchair (I was tired of sitting after the flight, and I would be sitting in my van for another half-hour to get home from the airport). But then he asked if I would like any help with my luggage; I wasn’t prepared to say no to that! When we got inside the central terminal, I was handed off to another gentleman, who went with me to baggage retrieval and picked up my big bag for me. He even waited (forever) with me for the shuttle bus to Long Term Parking, stayed with me all the way out to my stop in the parking lot, and got my luggage off the shuttle and onto the pavement.

Lesson Learned:

It would be a good idea to draft and carry a very well-written explanation of what us “pumpers” need from TSA and the airlines. If I could have just handed such a letter to the Des Moines TSA agents, things might have gone more quickly. And I might have avoided gettin’ injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected, and selected.