[Burgers]

I think your complaint is with the TSA since they initially told you that you couldn't bring your item through the checkpoint. Considering there are well North of a 1,000,000 items that can't be brought onto an airplane publishing it or having people trained on each item would be difficult TSA ultimately made the call, AA just gave you the option, check it for a fee or don't and abandon it.
Clearly you don't fly often so you didn't realize every airline is going to charge you for a alcoholic drink with few exceptions and buy on board snacks are the norm.
Was curious about your comment about flight attendants and not receiving a raise in 10 years. They got raises in Jan 15, '09, '07 so you really need to work on your math skills.