This is my first flight on Independence Air, and all in all I’m pleased with them so far. I respect any airline that allows its flight attendants to refer to a water landing as a “dip in the Atlantic”, and I’m even more impressed by the graphic that accompanied the plane evacuation instructions. Yes, that’s a broken-up plane outside the window, and they even put an “i” on the ruined tail rudder. That’s ballsy.

But their computer systems can use some work. I signed up for their frequent flier program when I bought my ticket, but it was rejected when I tried to use it. I figured it was a computer glitch, and went to gate to resolve it when I checked in.

Thirty minutes later, the gate agent is still having the same problem. Turned out that my FF account, like just about everything else in my life, was under the name “Jeff”, but I had ticketed myself with my passport-kosher legal name of “Jeffrey”. The only people who call me Jeffrey knew me when I was less than three feet tall. Problem number two was that the name on my frequent flier account is apparently engraved in stone and cannot be changed. So I was reticketed as Jeff and sent on my merry way.

Me: “So, when I come home, will TSA know that ‘Jeff’ on my ticket and ‘Jeffrey’ on my passport are the same person?”

Indy Air (paraphrasing): “Sure hope so, because we don’t.”