Southwest Airlines Flight 2317

Pre-​review tip: Don’t fly in the US if you’ve lost your ID. Even if you have an expired ID, TSA will put you through a full pat-​down and will empty and inspect every item in your carry-​on bag (s). Why? Because apparently an expired license with my photo, a temporary license without my photo, two credit cards with my name on them, and my Social Security card are not enough to prove that I’m the real John S. I tried to ask the six TSA agents I dealt with how I could have possibly changed my identity between the expiration date of my original license and now without actually changing my identity. They didn’t have a logical answer for me. Because potentially impersonating someone else when you travel – someone you look exactly like – is somehow more dangerous than traveling under your own unexpired ID. Because terrorists who plan to blow up the plane they’re on apparently really care that people don’t know who they are – or were. Apparently.
Another not-​quite-​full flight from the quiet morning paradise of Ontario International Airport to sleepy Oakland International Airport, the morning-​sun-​flecked waters lapping against its dune-​weed-​speckled runway.
It’s been too long since I’ve written flight reviews, which also means it hasn’t been long enough. I shared my A-​B-​C row with only one person, but I slept through most of the flight, so I skipped the complimentary drinks and snacks. Who knows whether I snored?
The woman traveling with her daughter and three nieces was up to the task, but the nieces were way over their mindful, no-​nonsense aunt. I heard two of them conversing at Ontario, and, man, ten-​year-​old girls grow up fast these days. It wasn’t what they were talking about but how they were talking; world-​weariness doesn’t even begin to capture these lovely young ladies’ attitudes.
Good, sleepy times all around.