Upon arrival at the airport, we were told that the air lines were no longer taking curb side check-ins and we had to go to the counter with our bags. There was a lady at the counter who instructed us to use the computer to complete our check-in. She then told me that we had to pay fifteen dollars for each bag and offered us additional leg room on the plane for an additional thirty nine dollars. In the interest of saving time we forked over (in cash) the additional fifteen dollars each for the bags but declined the extra leg room because we figured that we could withstand the cramped quarters for the two hour flight to Chicago.
I put my bag on the conveyor and when it came out the other side the TSA guy said he had to open the bag to check the contents. He was interested mainly in my shaving cream can and was trying to twist off the bottom as if it had a secret compartment. When he learned that it was just a regular real shaving cream can he told us to proceed to the long check-in line where we had to take our jackets and shoes off. I walked through the metal detector and I guess my belt or rings set off the alarm. I removed those items and was allowed to walk through only to learn that my tooth paste tube was too large and had to be confiscated along with my bottle of Poland Springs water. We proceeded to the gate and were told that the flight was delayed for an hour or so but was not cancelled. The cramped flight finally got off the ground one hour and forty five minutes later and, throughout the flight, we worried that we would not make our connecting flight in Moline. When we got to Chicago, we were happy to learn that the Moline flight had been delayed as well so we were able to proceed.