Practical Travel Safety Issues - "How The Rich Took Over Airport Security"

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/how_the_rich_took_over_airport_security/

..... That is what makes the policy of Delta Airlines so shockingly un-American. .In Austin, Delta had not one but two lines that fed into the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint area. One line was mixed race, mixed class and mixed age. The other line was usually empty. Now and then a white, middle-aged man would appear in the second line and the first line would be halted as he went directly into the TSA checkpoint. .....

Oh the horror!
I know, lets just make everything about airtravel just like Ryanair!

And to think I'm not this stereotype and can use the priority queue...GASP! ;)

And to think I'm not this stereotype and can use the priority queue...GASP! ;)

You can fly under the radar as long as no one realises that you are not a white male. :D
I have been painting my face white to get through the priority line. :p

You can fly under the radar as long as no one realises that you are not a white male. :D
I have been painting my face white to get through the priority line. :p

How risqué! "Whiteface?!" This reminds me of the SNL bit with Eddie Murphy (I think from the late 80s, or early 90s even). :D

I think it is worth discussing whether people should be able to buy their way to shorter security lines, esp. through TSA operated programs like pre-check, although I also recognize that these programs benefits FFers.

One of the few checks on TSA security procedures is that everyone has to go through them, so if they become too burdensome, people can complain to Congress, etc. Things will only get much worse if the rich/influential people can simply buy their way out of nudoscopes, invasive pat-downs, and other bothersome security measures.

I "bought" my way by paying for Global Entry, including choosing to give up my personal information including a picture ID and fingerprints. Still even with that I get denied, as this is supposed to be "random selection". Given that the government knows more about me than 95% of the other travelers, why should they ignore my low risk profile and punish me by making me go through enhanced security? To make me equal? If my ability to commit $20/year for ease of travel makes me rich... I hope you are not involved in the upcoming plan to increase taxes on the "rich" such as me.

If my ability to commit $20/year for ease of travel makes me rich... I hope you are not involved in the upcoming plan to increase taxes on the "rich" such as me.

^

This middle class white woman is kind of disturbed by the comments on that article.

The author of this article has had a similar piece (with a similar title) published in various outlets. Glad that most other people have better things to do with their time than to write such things. It'd be one thing to state the full facts about airport security lanes and debate whether or not the current arrangements are good, but to be rambling on about how priority lanes are used by rich white people only is false and a waste of time.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/07/airline_carriers_should_not_be_allowed_to_decide_w ho_gets_privileged_service_from_tsa_s_security_pro cedures_.html

.... Airlines are letting preferred customers skip the lines while the rest of us hold our shoes. How to fix a broken system. .....

Elites and premium customers have been able to use the priority lanes for a very long time.

I fly 225K miles per year (UA & AA). Anything the airline can do to speed up my travels is always appreciated.

How risqué! "Whiteface?!" This reminds me of the SNL bit with Eddie Murphy (I think from the late 80s, or early 90s even). :D

That's what I was thinking of.

Given that the government knows more about me than 95% of the other travelers . . .

I wouldn't be so sure about that, considering the number of professions that require fingerprinting, the percentage of the general population that have had a run-in with the police (and thus have been fingerprinted), the percentage of flyers who have some form of government-issued photo ID, etc.

I seriously doubt that there is any widely-disseminated government form that requests information that the government doesn't already know the answer to before you fill it out.

That article and a couple others like it have been discussed in TSA PreCheck threads elsewhere. For example: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1317021-delta-tsa-pre-check-34.html#post18923681

The articles themselves are somewhat misleading and tend to miss the point. For example, no travelers are actually "skipping" security, they're just using a faster alternative because they've been deemed to be less of a risk (and, in cases like TT programs, have undergone background checks, etc.). They added a correction to the bottom, but left in the sensationalist headline.

Then there are articles like this (http://www.salon.com/2012/03/22/how_the_rich_took_over_airport_security/), which sounds like it was written by a whiny 14 year-old who didn't get picked for the kickball team. The misinformation, flawed logic, and plain ignorance in these (especially the Salon article), is almost painful to read, and my fear is that it'll push back on programs like PreCheck that actually make security more efficient and effective by making the screening selection smarter and less of a blunt instrument, IMO. :mad:

Besides, as FriendlySkies points out, the existence of preferred security lines for elites is hardly a new idea. For a writer to be surprised by seeing them should, I think, in many ways makes anything that person writes about air travel slightly less credible - it's as if they haven't seen the inside of an airport in the last ten years...

If you say so.... I've had a government issued ID my whole life, but never submitted to fingerprinting until my Global Entry application. Can't recall the application information, but agree it probably didn't go beyond what I file in my tax forms each year. My point, of course is that I volunteered information and paid a fee to the government to give them what they asked for to try to eliminate unnecessary screening, and that anyone who chooses to do this and can come up with $100 can do this also. The topic was that "rich people" are the beneficiaries, and I don't believe that is the case.

Sending this to the TS/S forum

cblaisd
Moderator, Travel News

This is literally (no pun intended...) one of the worst articles I have read on transport since some nonsense Chris Elliot probably wrote a few years ago.
It is rare, but I am almost at a loss at where to even begin dealing with such inane drivel.

There are more than a fair share of elites that are black, east Asian, Indian, female, old, young. Why not pull some numbers or study the line for more than five minutes?
And I'd hazard a gess the majority of those using the Delta elite line at AUS are on company paid tickets that got them status to begin with. Most are not rich, and the poorest people noted in the article are most likely on Greyhound not flying. Why not lament the cost of fuel or taxes instead of the line that gets you to screening, which everyone does go through. The "rich white guys" are not in the airport line, they are over at an FBO in a private jet with the really rich of every other race.

I mean for once the class warfare cliche' is really valid; this whole article is class warfare bate. Even his other examples are wrong. ("rich" people with internet access can renew driver's licenses online in many states for example).

It just boggles the mind...

[QUOTE=There are more than a fair share of elites that are black, east Asian, Indian, female, old, young. Why not pull some numbers or study the line for more than five minutes?..[/QUOTE]

Do you really think this is true? Take a look at who is in first class these days (most through elite-based upgrades) and see if they are really a cross-section of the population. I think you'll find that those sitting in the pointed end of the plane are disproportionately male and white.

Not that this fact alone makes Pre-check problematic, but I think it is realistic to acknowledge that those that benefit from Pre-check are by no means a cross-section of the population. For example, most of my elite-qualifying miles are paid by my employer. What percentage of the working population fly paid by employers? And do you honestly believe that that number is demographically representative of the population? Really?

,One of the few checks on TSA security procedures is that everyone has to go through them

NOT SO. Crewmembers bypass security at various airports. :D

My point, of course is that I volunteered information and paid a fee to the government to give them what they asked for to try to eliminate unnecessary screening, and that anyone who chooses to do this and can come up with $100 can do this also.

And that, precisely, is the problem. Why should we have to pay money and give up private information in order to get through the checkpoint comfortably? Is a respectful, appropriate screening a right of all passengers, or a privilege that must be purchased?

Do you really think this is true? Take a look at who is in first class these days (most through elite-based upgrades) and see if they are really a cross-section of the population. I think you'll find that those sitting in the pointed end of the plane are disproportionately male and white.

Not that this fact alone makes Pre-check problematic, but I think it is realistic to acknowledge that those that benefit from Pre-check are by no means a cross-section of the population. For example, most of my elite-qualifying miles are paid by my employer. What percentage of the working population fly paid by employers? And do you honestly believe that that number is demographically representative of the population? Really?

The flying public already does not look like the general public but I sit up front very very often and I certainly see a cross section of people. Maybe it has to do with where I am flying as much of it is international but even stateside I certainly don't see all caucasian males up front.

The article is class warfare bate and is absurd. I love his ten minutes of "research" standing in line at AUS. Just nonsense.

And I wasn't talking about pre-check just the fact there are elite lines. That is the airlines business and makes good business sense.

Why is this in the Practical Travel Safety Issues forum? Should be in the debate forum.

NOT SO. Crewmembers bypass security at various airports. :D
As well as all TSA cast members, certain politicians, members of actual law enforcement, TSA friends and family, drug runners...the list really goes on and on.

The article is class warfare bate and is absurd. I love his ten minutes of "research" standing in line at AUS. Just nonsense.



While I think it is class warfare bait rather than 'bate', I am otherwise in agreement with this post. The article was essentially pure speculation. Whatever happened to responsible journalism.

I bet that if the PAX in question had been Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern (either male or female), etc this inane and useless drivel would not have been printed. I briefly looked over some of the other "news" on that site and quickly left....yellow journalism of the worst sort....and the type of news to further divide the country..:(

Cheers,

For a writer to be surprised by seeing them should, I think, in many ways makes anything that person writes about air travel slightly less credible - it's as if they haven't seen the inside of an airport in the last ten years...

^

Why is this in the Practical Travel Safety Issues forum? Should be in the debate forum.

+1

Most are not rich, and the poorest people noted in the article are most likely on Greyhound not flying.

I think this bears repeating. Just by being able to fly, the writer himself is in the 1%. As for the first class cabin being full of white males, I would probably extend that to be white males and females, but it is by no means exclusive, especially once you start flying international.

really this is that place where we need security.government is also provides security.

And that, precisely, is the problem. Why should we have to pay money and give up private information in order to get through the checkpoint comfortably? Is a respectful, appropriate screening a right of all passengers, or a privilege that must be purchased?

Well said! ^

As well as all TSA cast members, certain politicians, members of actual law enforcement, TSA friends and family, drug runners...the list really goes on and on.

I would question your list, it's not accurate. It's, however, a tiny list. TSA are not flying, they're going to work.

I would question your list, it's not accurate. It's, however, a tiny list. TSA are not flying, they're going to work.

The fact that they are not flying is irrelevant to fully effective security as they can pass something to someone who is flying. I will not debate who is not screened before entering the secure area, as I don't know, but anyone entering the secure area who isn't screened is a breach of the security control.