That one way ticket / close to departure makes sense, exact same thing happened to me on the way to pick up my 993 in San Antonio last year.

I flew standby from Calgary to Houston (my dad's an airline retiree, so get cheap standby fares). I didn't buy a positive space tik from HOU to SAT in case the YYC to HOU flight was full (if I was bumped, I'd be out the fare for the HOU to SAT leg).

Once I made it to Houston, I just bought a seat on the next plane to San Antonio.

And got the full treatment, shoes off, microscopic inspection of my bag, my belt, socks, you name it. I tried to bribe the guy to give me a strip search but the $20 I had on me wasn't enough.

Thought the search odd at the time, since I'm a middle aged white guy. On the other hand I did work in the middle east (Yemen) for a few years so maybe I shouldn't have thought it odd.

And all along it was just making a last minute purchase. Obviously terrorists are inveterate procrastinators.

A year before 9/11, I flew to Italy for a couple weeks. It was spring and I brought my leather flight jacket with me. I had not worn it for a couple of months due to our great SoCal weather. I put the jacket thru x-ray at LAX, no problem. They even did the swab test. Went thru security again in N.Y. - no problem. Went thru security in Paris, no problem. Halfway thru the trip I finally have a reason to wear the jacket.. It feels kind of heavy on one side. I reach in the pocket and realize that I have 50 rounds of .22 ammo on me. I had put it in the jacket a couple of months before when we flew privately to Aspen (I carry a rifle on long trips). I went white... I found the nearest garbage bin and got rid of the shells. It was an accident, but I am glad I did not get caught.

Dave

No biggie. I think this happens all the time if you are a new passenger on that particluar airline. When I started my travelling job I got the 'S' 3 weeks in a row as I flew Continental, American, and Northwest all for the first time since 9/11. The only time Ive ever gotten it since then was when I switched to a different airline after a long period of not flying with them.