"We do our best to make a flight with Austrian a high-level experience, which is why we have one chef on board of every single long-haul flight, " says Braun.

CNN: Flying chefs serve up fine dining in sky

Yesterday morning we departed Sunriver, hoping to make Bozeman, then Bismarck, North Dakota. (Our final destination is Hayward, Wisconsin.) My flight plan had us sailing over McCall, Idaho, with a straight shot into Bozeman.

FORBES: Bleary-Eyed In Bozeman

"When you have someone like you or me who doesn't intend to attack a flight, whether we have a Swiss Army knife in our pocket or not doesn't make any difference, " said Ron, president of Virginia-based New Age Security Solutions and former head of security of Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel.

CNN: TSA stands by knife decision

In the back of our minds, always, was the question of how we would ever make it out in time to make a flight to Hawaii for a long-scheduled family reunion and vacation.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down