TSA Officer Deepika Jassal helped me when I lost my cellphone. I returned to the check area (checkpoint) from my departure gate when I realized the phone was missing, and that is a long way (walk) at Denver International Airport (DEN) airport.
Jassal X-rayed my carry-on to see if it was hidden in my luggage, swept through all the machine area I had been in, checked the area where lost items are temporarily kept and gave me a little piece of paper about where to file a claim. By then, she used her own phone to help me try to call myself then to check on my daughter who has epilepsy and needed to know that I was not going to be reachable. Jassal worked with my daughter on marking my phone as lost and making sure my daughter knew what to do during the next several hours I would be out of touch.
These acts were ABOVE and BEYOND. Oh, I should mention as she was calming a very panicky me, she also checked to see if I had time to return to United Airlines check-in counter or if I was at risk of missing my flight and advised me to rush to my gate but talk with United about the issue. I just cannot go on enough. She put a human friendly face on TSA. I've flown a lot, used to work for the United Nations (and traveled) around the world. Jassal was by far the nicest person I have interacted with at TSA ever.
My phone is my lifeline, and she understood immediately. Please be sure her evaluations reflect her ability to do her job properly, professionally, yet with a human touch.
Note: And in the end my cell phone was found by United Airlines at their check-in area and they FedEx it back to me, and I have it again.
A happy ending! I stayed a tad calmer thanks to TSA Officer Deepika — just a tad I admit!
Susan Becker
By Wayne Carey, Strategic Communications and Public Affairs