TSA Checkpoint – Portland International Jetport

You know that there’s something special about your airport’s TSA employees when, after you check-​in on Unilocal,people from other parts of the country start Tweeting at you that «Portland, Maine has the nicest TSA in the world.»
I don’t disagree.
The TSA does an excellent job… they are efficient, yet humane (a quality that some of the larger airports seem to be entirely missing). I can’t imagine how difficult or stressful or complicated their job must be. Heck, I throw parties for a living. I’m thankful that they keep us safe; they definitely have to make harder decisions than I ever have to do on the daily about people, people’s belongings, etc. Through it all, they’ve done an exceptional job at keeping their personalities, their empathy, and their senses of humor. I often feel like I’m doing something wrong just by breathing differently when I’m going through the TSA security lines of other airports. My anxiety starts to explode because I know that they know that I’m not getting my shoes off fast enough for their liking, or making eye contact too long, or have literally not stepped up in line the right way (which I heard a TSA employee at JFK recently yell at someone, I kid you not).
Whenever I fly, I put my hair up. Because this messy bun of lioness mane is a big poof on the top of my head, TSA always has to pat my hair down after I go through the scanner. I’m used to it. So, my latest time flying I did everything as quickly as possible: shoes off, jacket off, scarf off, laptop out, liquids out, long necklace tossed behind my neck, hands up and over my head in the scanner, tilt my head to the TSA person afterwards to let them touch my hair. BAM. Three TSA employees laughed after I had done all of this and said that they appreciated my effortless cooperation and that I deserved the «junior officer award of the day» (maybe when I fly I look like a teenager?). I don’t know if this was a real thing, but it made me laugh, too… they, unfortunately, had run out of stickers to give me that day though (again, not sure if that was real or them just being witty, but now I have great hopes of getting an actual sticker some day).
So thanks, TSA Checkpoint of the Portland International Jetport. Thanks for still being human!

The TSA Checkpoint at Portland International Jetport currently does not include a TSA PreCheck line. But when I arrived to head through security — there was no one in the line in front of me. I’m guessing they don’t really need one at this point given the overall volume of passenger traffic at this Airport.
I jokingly asked the TSA agent where the TSA PreCheck line. He seriously answered the question — I then let him know I was just teasing him. He laughed and told me that «many folks have asked him that — and seriously wanted to know why there was not one.» In any case, I proceeded through with a card that allowed me to keep my shoes on, but I still needed to take my notebook computer out of the computer bag.
Breezed right on through! TSA folks at the smaller Airports are almost always so much nicer to interact with then their brethren at the larger Airports. While they are doing their jobs, at least they have a sense of humor!