[livius]

It's not disdain. There are simply some TSA workers who don't behave very nicely with the public, and that's the reason the TSA itself maintains a special crew for dealing with foreign dignitaries. The Prince and entourage should have kept their mouths shut, but at the same time, I have seen some very insulting behavior on the part of some TSA staff that would be hard to take if you weren't an American who was used to it.

I think the whole thing was probably handled very badly, and there was obviously nobody there initially who had the authority to resolve it. Miami is an important airport, and I think they should be better prepared for dealing with situations like this.

I would suspect it was Iberia that dropped the ball on providing timely information, and now the airline (a semi-privatized former state monopoly which is hated and ridiculed in Spain for its lousy service and rude personnel) is trying to cover its posterior.

[PAR35]

There are simply some TSA workers who don't behave very nicely with the public,

I haven't run across one yet who wasn't polite and professional, but then I am polite and professional toward them.

I would submit that there are far more passengers who are jerks than TSA folks who are jerks.

[Publius6961]

I think the whole thing was probably handled very badly, and there was obviously nobody there initially who had the authority to resolve it. Miami is an important airport, and I think they should be better prepared for dealing with situations like this.

Exactly. There are perhaps a half dozen to eight major international airports in the U.S. One would think that at each and every one of those there would be both FBI and State Department offices manned 24/7.

I suspect that if there isn't it's the result of Dubya's lapse in common sense in holding over incompetents from the recent Trailer-Park presidency. Isn't it about time to correct that mistake? I would start with all of the State Department. That department should exist to serve first and foremost the interests of the United States. They don't agree? They can go work for the DNC.