I think I am off the No-Fly Watch List. The last two trips I took were like the good old days. Print boarding pass at home, breeze through security without any additional screening.

Now I am back to focusing on the regular inconveniences of airline travel. Like the drunk man that was removed from the plane before we took off. Or the television screen that kept cutting out because it was “searching for a signal.” Or the very large man that sat  in the middle seat next to me on the seven hour flight home from New York. To be fair, the large man did not cause me the kind of discomfort I anticipated when I saw him trying to get in his seat. He kept his arms to himself and generously passed me my Diet Coke and Terra Blue chips when the JetBlue staff was passing out snacks and beverages.

After we landed, our other fellow passenger in the aisle seat on the other side of the large man said to him, “You were really good on this flight. You didn’t need to get up once. You must have a lot of patience.” To which the large man replied, “I grew up with four older sisters.” Now that makes sense. I grew up with three older sisters and I am also very patient.

When I was in New York I had several meetings with various Foundations. New York office buildings have high security but I didn’t have any problems getting into the buildings after I showed my identification and they cross-checked my name to make sure I was on the list. The last day of my trip I had a meeting with the President of a large Foundation. We only had half an hour together and I wanted to be sure I was on time for the meeting. I arrived at the building about ten minutes early thinking that would give me plenty of time to get checked in with security and get upstairs.

“You’re not on the list,” the security guard said.

“But I have a meeting,” I responded.

“Your not on the list. You’ll have to call upstairs and ask them to fax me an email.” Fax an email? I was starting to get confused.

“I have to call upstairs?” I asked. This, too, seemed odd. By this point in the trip I had been to several high security buildings and usually the security people call upstairs to verify the visitor’s name. “Can you call upstairs?” I asked.

“No,” he responded. “You have to call.” I wasn’t sure what good it would do for me to be on the phone with the receptionist. But I went ahead and called upstairs.

“Hello, this is Surina Khan, I have an appointment with your President at 10:30 and I’m having a little trouble getting upstairs. Security says I am not on the list and they say you need to send an email.”

“I’m so sorry for this inconvenience,” the receptionist said. “I’ll email them right now.” Five minutes passed. And I called again. “I sent them the email five minutes ago,” she said.

“She sent the email five minutes ago,” I said to the security guard.

“I don’t have it yet,” he said. “When the email comes they will bring me the fax,” he said cryptically. Did he not know the difference between an email and a fax?

“Well, I’ve got her on the phone, can you just speak to her by phone?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “That’s not how the system works.”

Another five minutes passed and someone from the Foundation had to come down and get me. I finally got upstairs with only about fifteen minutes left in the half hour time we had allotted. I happen to know this Foundation president reads my blog from time to time, or at least my Facebook status updates, and he knows about the trouble I have been having with the No-Fly Watch List.

“You and security again. Racial profiling?” he asked with a knowing smile.

“I know,” I said. “I may have to blog about it.” Now that I seem not to be on the No-Fly Watch List any longer, I’m realizing that some security lists are important to be on.