So, fairly recently there was a big hoopla because Ted Kennedy was pulled from the line to board his flight because another Ted Kennedy earned the honors of being on the no fly list.  On the surface this seemed pretty amusing.  Imagine being the TSA employee responsible for pulling one of the longest serving US Senators out of the line because his name shows up on a list?  Incredible.

Well, all laughing aside, on a recent trip to Boston, Carolyn and I attempted to proceed with the electronic check-in and it kept giving us some bogus error 601-42 so we headed over to the desk.  Turns out there’s some other guy with my exact name who’s on the LIST.  What the hell is this list?  I started wondering just who this other guy was and even though the airline employee ensured me I, “looked nothing like the guy, trust me,” I began wondering just how many people couldn’t use airlines to travel.

I’ve only known a few Harvey’s in my lifetime and none of them, on the surface seem to be a flight risk or potential terrorist.  Guess it just goes to show you that there’s more to a person than their name.

But just who compiles this no fly list?  How does one get on it?  Turns out me and this other Harvey have different middle names so I’ll start using my full middle name in flight reservations from now on, but still … it’s a little offputting.  Can we get a list of name contributors so that we can evaluate their ability to scrutinize who deserves to be on this secret list?

I mean, just who is watching the watchmen?

Oh, and Boston was lovely.  Snow.  Ice.  Steaming manholes.  The T and Celtic supporters.  Ahhh.