Wednesday, April 23, 2014

How I made the NO FLY LIST!




You’re not gonna believe this......

                    or

How I got on the “no fly” list!

    I was flying to the Bahamas for a weekend back in the 90’s.
As I prepared to return...I stopped at the hotel gift shop and spotted a few boxes of actual Cuban cigars on sale.  The lady confirmed they were in fact from Havana and of course you know the big flap about Cuban cigars and the fact that the anti-Castro Cubans in the states had made war on them so they were a “no-no”.
I didn’t buy a box because my history with Cuban Cigars was not good...because of the lack of quality and nothing else.  But I picked out a big one to bring back to the states more as a conversation piece than anything else.
“Hey...look what I got etc.”.
When I was clearing passport control in back in Philly...without thinking  (I should have kept my mouth shut)...I showed the American customs officer the Cuban cigar.   
The guy actually confiscated it!
I didn’t know it then but that got me on the U.S. 
“No Fly List!”
The next time I tried to leave the country I had to go thru hell to convince the officials I wasn't some kind of threat because of the one Cuban cigar.
Eventually they relented and I was allowed to board the plane and leave.
And that was the last time I flew out of the country...so to this day..over 10 to 15 years later I still don’t know if my name is on that list!
This story is real...you can’t make this kind of thing up!

stanmajor@aol.com

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